Roschel: Familiar Faces Trilogy 3
by christacox13
Summary: Part of the Familiar Faces companion trilogy. Can be read on its own, or with the other two books. Details Ross & Rachel's life in 2018, including new and old characters from the original series. All rights for characters or places where applicable go to David Crane and Marta Kauffman, not me. Modern day AU. Characters portrayed by the original actors/actresses. Please review.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is the third book in the companion trilogy, Familiar Faces. It is a Roschel modern day AU story set in 2018, and will be about their life. It will feature the main six characters including Mondler and Phike as couples, and probably some new characters too. Assume that Ross and Rachel are played by David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston, as this won't be stated throughout the novel to avoid unintentionally breaching any Copyright or Privacy regulations. Will be written simultaneously with the other two stories from the POV of Mondler and Phike respectively, so keep an eye out for those as well as this one.

Please also review this one and the others, as this makes such a difference in terms of holding me accountable for updating and also allows me to interact with you guys and potentially incorporate some of your own ideas.

Chapter 1 – Rachel

"I can't believe that Emma is leaving for college tomorrow and Lara starts high school today," I say to Ross.

I woke up at 4am this morning because I was so nervous and excited. It's so weird that Emma is a sophomore in high school, and Lara will be an 8th grade student. It seems only yesterday that they were young children and not 14 and 16. I woke Ross up because I was feeling so nervous, and absolutely needed to talk to someone who understood.

"Rach," Ross said. "It's not that crazy. They're just a school year older."

"Let me go into parent freak out mode!" I said, indignantly. "It's a huge deal!"

"No," Ross says, firmly. "If I let you freak out, I will, and we're not having that."

I roll over onto my side of the bed, and inch closer towards the bedside table that is beside my pillow. My phone screen lights up as I detach the charging lead from it, and I slide through the notifications on my lock screen. I have a message from Monica and some Instagram and Twitter notifications. I swipe up and enter my password.

The time stamp in the top right hand corner says that it is 6.59am. "Don't we have to wake up the girls?" I ask Ross.

"They don't have to leave until 7.30," Ross says. "But it's probably a good idea."

I contemplate getting up and walking into their bedrooms or texting them because I know that both of them sleep near their phones. I decide that I can't be bothered to get out from under the satin

bed sheets so I go for the texting option. The replies come flooding in surprisingly fast:

mom its too early cba to get up, from Emma

good morning to you too mom, from Lara

I show Ross the replies, and he laughs. "They remind me so much of you," he says.

I push down the duvet, swinging my legs over the bed and standing up. I walk out of the bedroom, down the hallway and then right into the kitchen. I find the cafetiere and select the cappuccino option, after putting my mug underneath the dispenser. I then make Ross one, and walk back to the bedroom to give it to him.

I climb the stairs up to the girl's bedrooms. Lara's door is slightly ajar, so I walk in there first. I can see from the fact that her phone is no longer attached to its charger and that the duvet is very carefully placed to look naturally ruffled, that she wants me to believe that she is asleep.

"Really, Lara?" I ask her. "Is that the best you've got?"

She groans in reply, and I decide to pull the duvet off her bed. She looks up at me with a death stare, and I shrug back.

"Wake Emma up, not me," Lara calls as I walk out of her bedroom to attempt to wake up Emma.

Emma's door is locked shut. She insisted that Ross and I buy her a lock on her door, because she thought that she would need one to get any peace from the rest of us. I know how to pick the lock though, so I use a spare bobby pin that I have in my bathrobe and the door opens. Emma has made more of a convincing effort to look asleep. Her phone is back on charge, and she looks genuinely asleep from the arrangement of her duvet and how she is lying.

"Emma! You may be four years older than your sister, and legally an adult, but I know you well enough to see through even your most convincing attempts to deceive me!" I say, loudly.

She doesn't stir, and so I decide to turn to verbal attempts to wake her up. "I'll text Harvey and tell him that his girlfriend still has to be prompted to wake up in the morning," I say, hoping that I've hit a nerve hard enough to make Emma start to worry.

I can tell that I have got Emma's attention, and less than a second later, she asks, "What's in it for me if I wake up?"

"I'll give you money for you to go get Starbucks at lunch," I say, "so you don't have to eat the crappy food from school."

"Deal," Emma says, and reshuffles herself so I can now see her rather than the duvet covering all of her. I leave her to get ready, and go back to Lara's room.

"Don't come in, Mom!" Lara shouts, as I twist the doorknob. I stop and start walking back down the stairs, because I trust that Lara was getting ready and I don't want to see the behind the scenes of that.

Ross isn't in the bedroom, and so I walk into the kitchen because I know that sometimes he likes to make breakfast. Sure enough, I find him in front of the stove, frying eggs and bacon. There is a loaf of bread beside the toaster.

"Do you want any help with the toast?" I ask him.

"Yeah, Rach," he says, smiling at me. "That would be really helpful. Also, I wasn't sure whether to do them, but do you want me to do fried tomatoes as well?"

I nod, and put the first four slices of white bread into the toaster. I walk over to the cupboards on one side of the kitchen, and find the toast holder. The first round of toast pops up, and I transfer it to the toast holder, and then put four more slices of toast in the toaster.

Lara is the first to come downstairs. She says good morning to Ross and I, and then goes to sit down at the table.

Emma came down a little later after her, just as Ross and I were setting the table with Lara's help. "You almost missed breakfast," I said.

"Oh yeah," Emma said, registering that we were setting up for breakfast. "My hair took ages, sorry."

I rolled my eyes slightly, before realising that since I was exactly like her at her age, and realising that I was being a major hypocrite if I objected so there was no point in making any kind of comment.

We all sat down once the table was fully set out.

"How are you guys feeling about school today?" I ask the girls.

Emma replies first. "I'm only going because I have to," she said. "I'm also a little nervous because apparently in sophomore year, the work gets a little harder."

"In my experience," I say, and Emma starts to roll her eyes. "I know that it may be different now to when I went," I add pointedly, before continuing my point, "it's really not much more difficult than freshman year. It's the next year, when you start the full AP classes that it gets harder."

"Thanks, Mom," Emma reluctantly says.

"What about you, Lara?" I ask, deliberately ignoring looking at Emma whilst I'm still annoyed at her not accepting my advice.

"Not too bad," Lara says. "If anything, I'm glad to almost be leaving middle school, because most people there are so immature."

I nod in agreement. I don't remember my own middle school experience, but I do remember that most of the people were immature bitches, and so I could relate to how Lara felt. I get side tracked by thinking of college, and onto Chandler and Monica and the others who I am friends with.

"Ross?" I said.

"Yes," he answers.

"Have you heard from your sister?" I ask. "I texted her earlier this morning, but she hasn't replied yet."

Ross looked at me. "First of all, when did you text her?"

"When I woke up, at 4am," I reply, sheepishly.

"She wouldn't have been up at that time," Ross says, sensibly. "And even when she did wake up, you're forgetting that she has other priorities like looking after Chandler, and Jack and Erica. I very much doubt texting you back would be one of the first things she would be thinking of doing."

I look at Ross cynically. Sometimes he really does seem to think that I think the entire world revolved around me, and even though we're married, it gets really annoying. "I know," I say, shortly.

Ross turns to talk to Emma and Lara. I stand up from the table, and walk back to the bedroom. My phone is still on my bedside table. I unlock it, and click on the messages app. Monica is the third most recent person in my message inbox, and I type out a message for her. I decide on saying that I hope that we would hang out together at some point, and that I hoped that Jack and Erica would have a good day being freshmen in high school, as Ross helpfully reminded me and that also helped me to remember having a conversation about it with Monica not long ago.

I look in the mirror that we have in the bedroom, and remember that I hadn't had the chance to get out of my pyjamas and bathrobe yet. I walk over to the closet, and find my work clothes for Ralph Lauren. It takes me less than five minutes to get ready, and then I go to the en-suite bathroom to apply a light layer of make-up for work and run a brush through my hair and tie it up.

I walk back down to the kitchen to find Ross. He was washing up. "Oh hey, Rach," he said, when he saw me. He took another look and realised that I was dressed for work. "I should probably go and get ready for work, but I don't want to leave you to have to wash up alone."

"No, it's fine," I say, "you go get dressed. Did the girls go upstairs to finish getting ready?"

"Yeah," Ross said. I heave a sigh of relief, because it means that I get to relax rather than have to worry about the girls.

I take over the washing up, which I kind of regretted but I wasn't too bothered about because the whole sharing responsibilities thing was part of a relationship, and I didn't want to lose Ross for some stupid thing like this. It took us long enough to get back together for real, and we have both worked really hard to keep it that way because it didn't seem fair on Emma and Lara, at the end of the day.

When I'm done with the washing up, I walk straight into the living room. The huge plasma TV stands opposite the big cream couch, with a marble topped coffee table in the middle. The remote sits on the couch. I pick it up and flick through the channels. There is a rerun of Keeping up with the Kardashians on, so I click on it.

Don't get me wrong – I know that the show has no storyline and basically pointless. You do still have to admit that it is entertaining, and honestly a good laugh. Emma and Lara roast me all the time because of watching it, and 'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette' as well. To be fair, I think that they secretly enjoy them, and they just don't want to admit that they watch the same shows as their Mom.

Ross disapproves of what I watch, but he has learnt that it isn't worth commenting after a number of fights that we had initially over it and realising that we would probably leave each other if the fights were actually serious. He still watches documentaries most of the time, with the exception of Sherlock, which I personally found incredibly boring. British TV shows are weird, because they never have any interesting drama that is available over here or that I understand.

I get so engrossed in the episode of KUTWK that I don't notice Ross coming in, until he says, "Rachel, I'm about to go to the college!"

He is still a Palaeontology professor at the sane college. I used to tell him that he would probably get bored of the job, but I think that was mainly because when I would have to explain to people that we meet at parties, I didn't want people to think that we were boring smartasses. Nevertheless, he was adamant that that would never happen, and I have now just resigned to that as a hope that I would have to let go of.

Comparably, people are still impressed when I tell them that I work for Ralph Lauren. The company does provide seriously prestigious jobs, and so I don't technically have to say that I got an offer for the job basically for free. Since entering Ralph Lauren, I have managed to upgrade myself to the status of being one of the main style designers. That was honestly my dream role, and even Ross is proud of me that I managed to prove myself worthy to be able to climb up to the job I really wanted.

Both our jobs pay well, so we could live comfortably. When I say comfortably, it basically means that we are able to pay the bills and support my shopaholic habits. That is one thing that really hasn't changed as I have grown up and become more responsible as a parent. All the others in our friendship group are like that as well, and that is one thing that makes me so happy.

I hug Ross goodbye and he goes out to take his car out to work. I shout from the foot of the staircase goodbye to Lara and Emma, and then get in my own car and drive to the New York Ralph Lauren headquarters. Ross and I have our own cars because both of our jobs demand it, as they are on opposite sides of town and we wouldn't be able to share one. We also have the cash, so we can spare it.

A/N: Here is the end of the second book in the Familiar Faces trilogy! Please check out the first book which is led by Monica and Chandler. Again all rights for the characters and places that are mentioned here that are from the original series are the creation of David Crane and Marta Kauffman, so don't credit me. Please continue to review and I hope you enjoy the beginning of the second book in this trilogy. Thanks again for the support on the last one already, and I hope everyone who reads this has a good day.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I am very excited to bring you guys the second chapter of Rachel and Ross's story! All the support that I am receiving for all three stories within this series is absolutely surreal, and I honestly don't know how to thank you. As I said, I am alternating perspectives between the couples because it seemed to be a good idea, and will also apply to the other two books. Please also keep a look out for a book that I am writing that is a crossover between Cougar Town and Friends and one that is solely about Cougar Town. Anyways, let's continue on with the next chapter.

Chapter 2 – Ross

"Do you want me to bring you the boxes through to the dining room?" I asked Rachel, balancing a stack of pizza boxes and boxes of sides on my arm.

"Yes," Rachel shouted.

I walked through to the dining room, and piled the boxes on the counter. Lara and Emma were already sitting at the table, both on their phones.

"Can I get the plates and cutlery?" I asked Rachel, as she was on the other side of the kitchen.

Rachel nodded, and so I went over to the cupboards and the attempted to walk back to the table whilst balancing a stack of plates with all the cutlery on top of it without falling and smashing everywhere. I managed to do it, and sat down.

"How was both of you guys' day?" I ask Emma and Lara.

Emma took a slice of pizza from the second bigger box and took a bite. She started talking, "It was pretty good. I'm going to have so much more work and so much less free time now that I am a junior, though."

I look at Rachel before I talk to make sure that she is watching what I am saying. "It will all be worth it, even if it means that you won't be able to go to every party you want or see all your friends whenever you want."

"I know that, Dad," Emma says, rolling her eyes. "I'm sixteen, in case you forgot."

I ignore her, and turn to Lara. "What about you?" she asked.

"Different," Lara said, shrugging. "I feel like it's too early to tell with the workload. What was really cool, though, is that I saw Erica in Photography."

"How was she?" I asked, feeling a wave of protectiveness of my niece was over me.

"She seemed shy," Lara said, "but good."

"I'll have to call Mon later," I thought, and then realised that I had said it out loud because everyone had turned to look at me.

I saw Rachel look as if she wanted to ask Lara something as well, and so I motioned to her to go ahead as I had finished all I wanted to say.

"What's your most favourite lesson right now?" Rachel asked.

Lara stopped to think before answering. "Probably Photography, but I am excited for tomorrow because we got to take a look at the insanely cool studio today that they have for the performing arts subjects, and since I'm a Drama student, we'll be using it," she said.

"That's so awesome," Rachel says. "I'm so happy for both of you guys, because it seems like you're both happy and that's all I could ever ask for."

I nodded in agreement with Rachel. Even though neither Lara nor Emma seemed very interested in the particularly academic subjects, I wasn't surprised because they are Rachel Green's daughters. Ben, on the other hand, was majoring in Economics almost entirely because he loves Maths. I had three very different kids, and it was one of the most interesting and at times frustrating things all at once.

No one talked until all the pizza boxes and side boxes were empty, and then Emma and I both took the boxes out to recycling.

On our way out, Emma asked, "How was your day, Dad?"

"Not awful," I said, "but it's never fun trying to motivate 18-20 year olds to care about Palaeontology when they want to be everywhere but in the lecture hall."

"I feel terrible saying this especially since you are a basically a teacher but that is my mood usually in my own classes," Emma admitted.

"Don't worry," I say laughing, whilst holding the recycling bin lid open for Emma. "I wouldn't expect any less."

Emma laughs with me as we walk back into the house and straight to the kitchen. Rachel is standing against the counter, slicing up lemon tart and transferring them to plates. I walk up behind her, and grab the first two plates I see to bring them to the table.

Lara is on her phone, the charging lead snaking off of the table all the way to the plug socket that was plugged into the wall. She looks up when she sees me and starts pointing the camera at me. "What are you doing?" I ask.

She passes me the phone, and I see a video of myself with a Snapchat filter that makes me look unflattering old. "Is this something that you find funny?" I ask, trying my best to look as serious as possible, with Lara grinning right back at me.

"Mom," Lara calls to Rachel, who is now coming over to the table with the last two plates of the tart. "Persuade Dad that this is even the slightest bit funny!"

Rachel looks at me, and then takes Emma's phone from her. She watches the video, and I watch her to try and gauge her reaction. Rachel glances my way for a couple of seconds, and then turns completely away from me. I hear a muffled squeak, and start walking straight up to her.

"Rach," I start to say to her as she tries to hide her head in the hooded sweatshirt she started wearing after work ended. "You found that funny, didn't you?"

She didn't reply, but I heard another very faint squeak coming directly from where she was hiding. I get so impatient with her that I decide to pull down the hood of her sweater.

"Great bed hair," I say, looking at Lara and then pointing at the phone in her hand. "Almost too good to not take a photo of."

I snap a quick photo before Rachel sits up properly and scowls at me. She starts to retort at me, bit realises that I don't have the phone anymore and turns to Lara to start having a go at her. We all hear a snort in the background and I realise that Emma has just been sitting here watching us the whole time.

"What's the point of this anymore?" I ask, actually bewildered as to what the purpose of the last few events are.

"Dunno," Lara said. "It's fun for me because I now have some quality photos of both of you."

"Don't post them on Instagram," I warn Lara.

"Not fair, Dad," she replies, "You follow my account anyway, which is where it would be going."

I shrug. "I guess that's okay, because the only people that would see are family like Monica and friends of yours that won't care that it's me. I just would never want any of my students to see them."

"I'm sure that no one from your school will be able to see it," Lara says. "I don't even know any of them, to be honest, to be able to share the video with. Also, because Dad has given me permission to be able to post it, does that mean the same for Mom?"

I glance back over at Rachel, and she realises that we are waiting on an answer from her. "I guess," Rachel says. "It's not the best look I've ever sported, but I guess that doesn't matter when it comes to family."

Emma piped up from where she had been sitting. "Once you let her do this, she'll hold you to it every time and always get her way," she said.

"It won't always be like that," I say. "We can still impose boundaries."

"Really?" Emma looked, at me cynically. "When I was her age, you let me do basically every single thing I ever wanted to do. You still do."

I shook my head. It was Rachel's influence, because if it was just me who had all the parenting responsibilities, the girls' would be able to get away with a lot less than they already do. Since parenting had to be a diplomatic agreement, I had to let her pass some of her rules otherwise she would have definitely have kicked me out by now.

I hear the flash of a phone, and see the flash in my peripheral vision for a couple of seconds. "Oi!" I shouted, dashing out into the hallway in pursuit of Lara. I got to the foot of the stairs, just as she was thundering her way up. There was no way that I would be able to catch her. "Lara Amelia Geller-Green! Get the hell back down here!" I shouted, in vain.

She turns round from the top of the stairs, and flashes me the middle finger and starts cackling wildly. I give up, and lean on the bannister at the foot of the stairs to regain my breath. The door to the kitchen swings open, and Emma walks passed me on her way upstairs.

"Told you so," she quipped, and I rolled my eyes.

The kitchen door swung open again and Rachel walked out.

"I need to sort out the dishwasher," she says, "but I wanted to suggest that now might be a good time to catch up with Mon and Chandler."

"Oh yeah," I nod, remembering that I had planned to call Mon to see how the twins had found high school and generally how her day had been.

"I'll go do that now," I say to Rachel, as she hands me over my phone. I had left it on the dining table in the midst of all the excitement of the drama going on, and had forgotten that it was there.

I walked into the sitting room, and sat on the couch. There was a cushion right beside me, which I picked up, fluffed up and put behind me as back support. I also spotted a throw that was sitting in a heap a few metres away from me, so I pulled that over me as well. So comfortable, I said to myself happily as I checked the time.

It was 20:30 according to the time stamp in the top middle section of my phone screen, and so I concluded that there was a high chance that I wouldn't be disturbing Chandler or Monica's bedtime routine with their kids. I contemplated calling their home phone, but decided that it was probably easier just to call Mon herself.

She picked up on the second ring. "Hi, Ross," she said, sounding pretty tired.

"Hey," I said. "How are things over there going?"

"Not bad," Monica said, and I heard Chandler talk in the background. "Excuse me," Monica said, before I heard her say that it was me on the phone. "I'm back," she said, sounding a little flustered. "Sorry, that was just Chandler wanting to know who it was."

"It's fine," I said, hoping that my voice reflected the fact that I wasn't bothered by it at all. "Really."

Monica chuckled a little in relief. "Back to what I was saying about my day," she started saying, "the twins seem to have had a good first day at high school. Emma actually mentioned that she had seen Lara today, and worked together in Photography."

"Yeah," I said, smiling even though Monica couldn't see me because it was nice that the cousins were making an effort to get along. "She mentioned it to Rach and I earlier."

I could hear Monica sigh happily, which I assumed was for the same reason I smiled. "How has work been now you're the manager of the whole restaurant?" I asked, feeling a wave of pride wash over me from the recollection of when Monica first told me that she had been promoted by the manager at Javu's to take over the original manager's job when he retired.

"Today was just one of those chill meeting days," Monica replied. "So nothing too busy or involved." She paused for a quick moment, and added, "And I got out early enough to be able to cook dinner from scratch for the family."

"That's always a plus," I said, "especially because we all know how much everyone loves your cooking."

"I know," Monica said, sounding smug. I couldn't fight the urge to laugh because it made me remember all the times where she had made me laugh so hard whilst saying it. "Are you laughing?" she asked.

I tried to compose myself enough to answer. "Yes," I spluttered before breaking down into another fit of laughter.

"I miss you," Mon said.

"I miss you too," I said back, feeling a little wave of sadness rush over me. "Hopefully we'll be able to sort out a day trip or something together."

"Yeah," Monica agreed. "How's Rachel doing?" she asked.

"Rachel's doing well," I said. "She's really getting completely stuck into the designing element at Ralph Lauren, and you can tell that she absolutely adores every aspect of the whole job."

"Would we have expected any less of her?" Monica said, chuckling.

"No," I agreed. "How's Chan?"

"Chandler's good," Mon replied. "He loves being able to get money from his sense of humour, as he puts it."

I laugh. "I mean, he would barely have to put in any effort and it would still be gold," I said, realising how easy his job sounded and feeling a little envious as teaching was nowhere near as easy.

"Exactly," Mon said. "It's why both of us still love our jobs, I feel. I know that if I didn't still love cook and be in charge of everyone, then I would have left Javu's a long time ago, and I don't know what I would do for a job then."

"I'm so happy for you both," I say to Monica, really genuinely meaning it. "I'd better go and check on the wife and Lara and Emma, but send my love to Chandler, Jack and Erica and I hope that we see each other in person soon because it's been far too long."

"I agree," Monica said, sounding genuine. "See you soon, then."

"Bye," I say, and then tap the button on the keypad of my phone to hang up.

I kick off the throw after pocketing my phone, and walk out of the sitting room into the corridor. It's empty and the light is off, so I walk further up the corridor past the kitchen right up to the bedroom. The light is on underneath the closed door, so I know that Rachel is there as I had suspected. I knocked on the door.

"If you're Ross, come right in," she said, and I twisted the doorknob until the door clicked open. Rachel was laying on her side of the bed, with her reading glasses on and an open book balanced on her lap.

"Hello, sexy," she said, looking up. Her glasses fell so far down her nose that I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that they completely ruined the effect that she was going for, but nevertheless it was still adorable. "What are you laughing at?" she asked.

"Do you realise that your glasses completely ruined the effect that I think you were going for, but if anything it's made you look 10x cuter?" I say.

She looks a little frustrated at first, but her expression changes when she realises that there was a compliment within what I said. "You are the most amazing and most adorable husband ever," she says, smiling and my heart bursts because I am so happy for her.

"I love you," I say, as I take off my blazer and throw it into the laundry basket. "I hope you'll always know that."

Rachel grins. "I hope that you will always feel that way about me too," she says, "because no one will put up with your Palaeontology obsession and Grammar Nazi habits the same way as I will."

I nod my head in acknowledgement. "Fair statement," I say. "In the same way, I doubt there would be anyone as appreciative of your addiction with fashion and habits of chronic melodramatic reactions to everything and the fact that you are always so disorganised."

Rachel reels for a moment from what I have said, but then seems to realise that it was only me trying to get even with the comments that she had made about me. I continue to change, and then go into the en-suite bathroom, and then get into bed with Rachel. I pick up the book that is on my bedside table, and start reading, finally glad that the day is over.

A/N: Here's the conclusion to the second chapter of this story! Again, many apologies for the late update because I really have had a lot going on and little motivation to update. Anyway, please continue to read, review and make suggestions for future chapters. Whilst you're at it, I would really appreciate it if you would check out my other two books in this trilogy, and the other two books that I am writing which are a Friends and Cougar Town crossover novel and a novel that centres around Cougar Town only. Regardless, I am always so grateful and happy with all the appreciation and support of all that I have written so far because it honestly makes such a difference to my day, even though it sounds cringey. Thank you and enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Here's the third chapter in Ross and Rachel's story in the trilogy. Without giving away too much about the next chapter, this follows on from the latest chapter in the Mondler story about the whole reunion trip. I hope that you enjoy it, and it would cool to know generally if you guys would be interested in seeing chapters that are not only from the main characters perspectives, but also their children. Please read, review and check out the other two books in the trilogy and the Cougar Town and the Cougar Town/Friends fanfiction. I will always welcome suggestions for new plot ideas and thank you so much again for the support that I have already received from you guys, and have been receiving.

Chapter 3 – Rachel

"Emma!" I tapped her shoulder. "Your aunt wants to speak to you!"

Monica and I were walking together as we explored the rooms in the house, and Emma had joined us. She was on her phone, talking to someone that I could only assume was either her boyfriend or another high school friend.

"Rach, don't worry about it," Mon said, grabbing my arm to stop me from walking ahead and yanking Emma's phone out of her hand.

I fought to resist her grip, and walked straight up to Emma. I grabbed the phone out of her hand and hung up. The name on the caller ID caught my attention, and I tapped back on the number to read it again. "You have a boyfriend?" I said to Emma.

"And what's it to you?" Emma asked me back, defensively. "I'm 16, for god's sake – don't you think I can keep at least that aspect of my life private?"

I look to Monica for help here with what I should say, but she shrugs. I scowl at her, and start to think of an appropriate reply. "At least I would expect you to tell me," I replied, feeling quite annoyed. "Or even Ross. Just to tell someone so we can meet him and know what he's like so I know that he isn't going to be a bad influence on you!"

"So, you can say this when I know that you went out with guys all the time in high school without letting your parents know?" Emma said, squaring up to me. "Nice try Mom, but somehow being a hypocrite wipes away the credibility of your comment."

I couldn't believe that she had had the nerve to question my authority. I shot Monica another look, this time desperate for some kind of parental reassurance. She flashed me a 'no-can-do' look, but this time I could tell that it was flavoured with a hint of 'I told you so'. I made a mental note to argue with her later about it once I had finished with Emma.

"Don't try and get smart with me like your father," I said, feeling really defeated by my own daughter but still obstinately angry. "It's true that I used to have many boyfriends in college, and that my parents never cared enough to be bothered that the vast majority of them turned out to be self-obsessed idiots who only cared about dating the most popular girl for the social status." I started sniffing, and Emma looked over at me as if she felt bad for me and wanted to check that I was okay.

"I just never want you to end up having to deal with heartbreak on your own," I said, looking at Emma with what I hoped was an expression that reflected how genuinely I cared about her and her happiness. "Because it's seriously rough, and I just don't want you to feel like no one understands or can help you."

Emma looks back at me, and returns my look with one that makes me sure of her gratitude from what I said. "Thanks, Mom," she said. "I'll be sure to ask for your support when you need it." That wasn't quite the answer I was going for, but Monica shot me a look that I was certain meant not to continue.

"You're still not out of the dark," I started saying to Monica, and her expression changed to one that looked desperate for help. "I really appreciated your lack of parental support and reassurance when I really needed it."

"You seemed to be doing pretty decently yourself," Monica shrugged, as if it was no big deal and as if my daughter hadn't insulted my authority in front of the people who were also visiting the estate in the same corridor that were in. "I didn't want to interfere in case I made the situation worse."

I looked at her again, mustering up my most disapproving look. "Sometimes you really don't know where to stop with the whole attempt at being smooth," I said. "Can we talk without the whole 'I don't want anything to do this is so I'm going to pretend that I did nothing and am completely innocent' attitude, please?"

"Yes," Monica said. "Yes, we can. Without mentioning about the fact that you did date a whole load of guys in high school and that Emma has a point there."

I tried to be pissed off, but it was more because I couldn't stand Monica's face when she knows that she's right. "Not to mention the fact that I wouldn't expect you to be able to give advice about how to deal with boyfriends, considering your kids aren't old enough and the fact that you had a significant lack of them in high school," I ended up saying and then immediately wanted to take back what I had said because I thought I was being too mean.

"So we're going there, are we?" Monica said, clearly trying to hide that she was hurt and attempt to hide it in revenge. "All right, then."

"Is now really a good time to argue?" I asked, looking at Monica with an appalled expression and noticing everyone else walking around us.

"I would ask the person that turned this conversation in an uncomfortably personal direction that question, not me," Mon replied, which pissed me off more because she was shooting me all these clever responses that were flooring my ability to think of comebacks.

"Chandler's really been rubbing off on you, hasn't he?" I say, really just not functioning anymore out of being so annoyed.

"I wouldn't be surprised, after being married for the best of 17 years, if he hadn't," Mon said as if I was dumb and she was stating a fact that everyone should know.

"I'm not talking to you anymore," I said, and walked ahead of Monica. I called back to Emma, "Come on! Let's get away from the bitch!"

Emma replied rather than just coming with me. "Since she's my aunt, and the argument that you guys had was pointless but what matters more is the fact that she attacked and shot down all your points, I think I'm going to stay with her!"

Monica gave me her best insufferably triumphant look, and I flounced off further down the corridor. I walked into the nearest show room, and tried to make it look like I knew what I wanted to do and be where I was. I was desperately hoping that I could just look normal, and not have Emma or Monica chase me down and end up embarrassing me any further.

Just as I was admiring one of the bedspreads on one of the beds with the canopy-style curtains that was on show, I heard two familiar voices. Monica and Emma were back, and they were laughing and clearly in the middle of a conversation. Probably plotting something against me.

"What part of stay away from me do you two not get?" I said, feeling tempted to shout but remembering that I was in public and that I didn't want to embarrass myself any more than I already had. "Please leave."

"No," Monica said. "It's a country where you allowed free speech and to do whatever you want, and so both Emma and I reserve the right to stay here especially since we have paid the entrance fees to be on the premises."

"Is Emma in on this?" I asked, attempting to scowl at Emma whilst she was not looking my way.

"Oh yeah," Monica said, looking very proud of herself. "Turns out that she would jump at the opportunity to rebel."

"You're such a bad influence on her," I say, now looking at myself through a tiny standing mirror that was on the bedside table because I could watch the others through it as it was tilted at the perfect angle to give me a view of all of the room.

"I know," Monica shrugged. "It's one of the perks of being an aunt."

I was completely bored of this argument, and so I just decided to say, "Look, I'm not going hold anything against either of you because the argument I started was pointless and I don't want to ruin today for either of you."

Monica's expression changed from looking smug to a more neutral but serious one. "Someone doesn't enjoy being outnumbered and defeated, especially by their own daughter," she said and immediately added, "but, for once in a while, I actually agree with you."

"Thank you," I said, looking her in the eye to make sure that she knew that I was revelling in the fact that she was thanking me. I looked at Emma, who saw my expression and just nodded. I wasn't entirely sure if she knew what was being said but decided to let it slide.

I heard a phone going off. I looked at Monica, and we both checked our handbags to see if was ours. On my lock screen, there were two notifications; one was from Ross with a text, and the other was a missed call. "Has Chandler tried to call you?" I asked Monica. She had her phone held up to her ear, and I realised that she was probably calling him now.

"Emma!" I said, loudly. She looked up from her phone, and pulled down her headphones. "Yes, Mom?" she said.

"Have you got any messages from any of the others?" I asked her, assuming that Ross probably would have tried to get in touch with her second after me.

"Only from Lara, who's gone off with Jack and Erica," Emma said. "I don't know about Dad or Chandler, or Pheebs or Mike or their kids."

"Thanks anyway," I said, feeling happy that Lara had been able to socialise with Jack and Erica, but not feeling any less relieved about whether Ross and Chandler were okay. I decided to take another look at Ross's message since I hadn't actually read it when I looked.

It just was asking us where we were and saying that they were in the estate gardens near the stable block. The call probably was for the same reason, and so I just left it and the message as well because Mon seemed to be talking to Chandler about it now. Emma and I had to wait about another minute before Monica hung up the call, and turned back to us.

"That was Chandler," she said. "He said that he tried to call me, and that Ross tried to call and text you, Rach." I nodded so that Monica knew that I had just seen them. "They were just slightly worried about us, but now they want us to join them in the gardens near the stables."

"Cool," I said, and started walking towards the exit of the house. We were on the second floor, and so we had to climb down the stairs to get to the entrance at the end of the longer corridor on the first floor.

I almost tripped down the stairs, which felt like karma reminding me that high heeled boots are not a functional choice of footwear for a casual day out. Luckily, Emma and Mon didn't react, even if they had seen it. Without injuring myself further, we all managed to walk out into the grounds of the estate.

"Which direction are the gardens in?" I asked Monica, who was fumbling in her handbag for her copy of the map that we had been handed when we bought the tickets.

She looked at it for a couple of minutes and then pointed to the right. "It's that way," she said. "Follow me if you want."

Emma and I both followed her as we walked across the grass lawn to the edge of the right wing of the estate house. Behind it was a sidewalk with a signpost that hung above it which had the directions for the nearest restrooms, the gardens and stables and the café and the second parking lot.

We walked followed the signpost for the gardens and the stables and sure enough I could see the very colourful entrance to the gardens. When you got into the gardens, it was an explosion of colour. There was a stone sidewalk which criss-crossed a maze of patches where flowers were growing when you first walked in, which stretched right up to a wooden and stone shed with a mini sidewalk which snaked round behind it.

Monica stopped to take photographs, and I took her lead because I figured that they would look cool as Instagram or Facebook posts later. Emma was still engrossed on being on her phone, which didn't surprise me in the slightest and I had decided that there was no point in bothering to say anything to her.

Once I had finished taking the photos I wanted, I walked on further towards the end of this section of the gardens. Monica caught up with me, and started talking. "Do you think the guys will have minded that we took a bit of a detour with staying here to take photos?" she asked.

I had decided that I really had to watch where I was stepping because this part of the stone sidewalk was particularly uneven and I didn't wish to run the risk of falling again, and so wasn't really focused on answering Mon. "I'm sure that they would've assumed that at least I would've got caught up here, so it won't be a surprise," I say, desperately trying to look more dignified than I felt whilst also watching my every move.

Behind the shed, it was just a huge grassy area with a few sidewalks leading up to the stable blocks and another one that was just a general one that wrapped around the stable block and behind it. Emma, Mon and I walked up to the entrance of the first stable block, hoping that the guys were there.

The first thing I noticed when we walked into the stable block was the overpowering smell of horse muck and horses in general. Ross was nowhere to be seen, but Chandler was standing petting one of the horses in the stable.

"Where's Ross?" I asked Chandler, who was now wrapped in a hug from Monica.

"He left to go to the next block. I think that the tour guide who walked through here with a group a while ago said that there was some kind of museum that was talking about how the horses were used here in the past or something," Chandler said. "You're best to go and look there for him yourself."

I nodded, and walked out of the stable block that Mon and I had just walked into. The second one was almost directly beside the one that I had just been in, and I just walked in. There were three stables that looked like they were still in use, and then one that looked less like it was still used for the original purpose that I presumed was the one that would be the museum.

Sure enough, when I walked into the fourth and final one, I saw Ross standing in the far corner, reading one of the display plaques. The actual stable looked as if it had been renovated to merge with one of the other stables that had been in here because it was so big, but they had filled it with displays in a way that was a good use of the space without feeling like it was an overwhelming amount of information on show.

"Rach," he said, as he turned his head around and saw me. I had managed to successfully sneak up on him, and wrap my arms around him in a hug. "I've missed you, even though we've only been a part for a couple of hours."

"That's one of the nicest things you've said recently," I said, and he looks happy with himself. "Are you finding this interesting?" I ask, detaching myself from him and looking at what he had been initially looking at before I snuck up on him.

"Yeah," Ross said. "It doesn't look like it at first, but there's actually a lot of history behind why the horses were used here."

"That's awesome," I say, feeling happier than I've felt all day. "What eras does it cover?"

Ross didn't even have to think before asking me. "Not eras as such," he says, "but the periods that it covers are from the mid-1700s to the very, very beginning of the 1900s."

I smile at him. "That's really great," I say, because I know how happy it's making him, despite the fact that my knowledge on these time zones being so limited. Come to think of it, most of the time I love and appreciate Ross the most when he's in his happy places, which are usually these types of places. I also wouldn't have been surprised if Monica had considered this when she and Chandler had planned what today was going to be like.

A/N: I hope that this is a good place to stop because the chapter was getting so long that I thought I would save you guys from drowning in more words. Even so, I want to remind you guys that after this one and the Mondler one and the Phike one go up, I am probably not going to be able to update for slightly less than a week from today. I also want to wish you guys a good Christmas if you celebrate, and remind you guys that whilst I am gone, you can check out the previous chapters of all three of the trilogy books and my Cougar Town/Friends crossover and my Cougar Town only fanfic. Just before I go, a final thank you for all the support that you guys continue to send me because it really makes my day and I appreciate every one of you guys who bother to read, review and give me suggestions for improvements.

Just a side note that I just remembered, if anyone is ever interested from seeing a chapter from either Emma, Lara or Ben in this fanfiction, Jack and Erica in the Mondler one or Adeline or Christopher in the Phike one. That being said, with the Phike one, I would also do Frank and Alice's kids: Frank Buffay Jr. Jr, Leslie Buffay and Chandler Buffay. Please just let me know in the reviews whether you would like to see this happen.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here is the 4th chapter in the Roschel story. This will be a continuation on from the Mondler story, and will be from the perspective of Lara, as if she has had Erica over at her house after school. I hope that you guys haven't been too frustrated with the speed by which the plot is moving along, but I really hope that you will enjoy that this it's finally running into some drama and won't hate me too much. In the meanwhile, I would appreciate if you would check out the other books in the trilogy and my other two books that are set in the world of Cougar Town and the Cougar Town and Friends crossover novel. I think I've said enough so let's get back onto the fourth chapter:

Chapter 4 – Lara

"I hope you're okay with doing this," I said.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it," Erica said. "I've texted Mom, so she knows that Dad doesn't have to pick me up until one of them can come later."

I used my key to unlock the door into the house, and walked in with Erica behind me. Erica took off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack, and sat on the bottom step of the stairs to take off her boots. "Can I just leave them right here?" Erica asked me, and I nodded. I was a little surprised that she felt that she had to ask me where to put her shoes and then I remembered that she had Monica for a Mom and it made sense again.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" I asked Erica.

"Water, if that's okay," Erica said, standing up again and following me as I walked into the kitchen.

I started looking through the cupboard for a clean glass, and found the nearest one. After shutting the cupboard door, I filled up the cup by the sink and handed it to Erica.

"Thanks, Lara," she said to me, looking around the kitchen diner. "Are Rachel or Ross here?"

I shook my head. "Dad works late, Mom gets home slightly earlier and Emma gets home whenever she wants," I said. "So we have the house to ourselves for the next couple of hours."

Erica's initial reaction to this was one of surprise that quickly disappeared. I assumed that it was because she was so used to everything being strict that having all this freedom would understandably be quite unusual and odd to her, and so I thought nothing more of it.

"What do you want to do?" I asked Erica.

"What kind of things can we do?" she asked me, and I started to try and mentally list all the possibilities to be able to reel off the options to Erica.

"We could go up to my room and watch Netflix or YouTube," I said. "Or we could do something else but I am surprisingly lacking in ideas."

"I don't mind watching Netflix," Erica said. "What kind of shows do you like?"

"I like Riverdale," I said. "That's my favourite, but mainly because of Cole Sprouse."

Erica blushed slightly at the mention of his name, and in my mind I just thought 'relatable'. "It'd be cool to watch it," Erica said, and I led the way out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

We went up the second flight of stairs and I opened the door to my room. I hastily rearranged the blanket on my bed, and grabbed the remote to the TV that had been installed in my bedroom as a birthday present this year. I logged into my Netflix account, and pressed the button to get onto my account and found Riverdale in my 'currently watching' playlist.

I pressed the play button, and sat on the bed beside Erica. I whipped out my phone and started scrolling through Instagram, occasionally looking up to see what was going on. Erica was doing the same, which made the slight feeling of stress that I had melt away, because I had started feeling as if I was being incredibly rude.

We watched an hour and a half of the programme, until I heard a knock on the door. "Can I come in?" It was Mom.

"Sure," I yelled back, pressing pause on the remote as she opened the door.

"Oh hi, Erica," Mom said, with an expression of surprise on her face. "I didn't expect that you would be here."

Erica shot me a disapproving look, and I shot one right back.

"Do you guys want me to order in pizza then, or something?" Mom asked, looking at both of us to try and gauge the general feeling towards that idea.

"Thanks a lot, Mom," I said, and Erica looked at me and then nodded in agreement too.

"Oh, and Erica," Mom said as she left, "Do Monica and Chandler know you're here?"

"I've texted Dad to tell Mom that I'm here, and that I'll let them know when they should come and pick me up," Erica said, and Mom looked satisfied at that comment enough to leave my room and us in peace.

Mom shut the door after her, and Erica started talking to me straight away in a voice that I recognised as one that wasn't exactly chuffed with the world.

"How is your Mom okay with this?" Erica asked me, looking at me in full disbelief and slight annoyance.

I shrugged. "She has no choice, and anyway, she's usually too relaxed to care especially when it's family," I said, and Erica seemed to think that it was sufficient enough an answer as she had a more comfortable and relaxed expression on her face.

We watched more Riverdale until there was a second knock on the door. I paused the TV and got up this time to answer the door. It was Mom, with a tray of two pizza boxes atop a couple of plates. I attempted to hold the whole tray myself, but started to feel my arms shaking a little. Mom took the tray from me and I started trying to make a place between Erica and I that I could put the tray.

"Just leave it there," I instructed, patting the spot where I wanted the tray to go.

"There you go," Mom said. "Lara can come and bring the rubbish down when you're done, and I'll come up later to check you're both doing okay and also to ask if Erica knows when the others are coming for her. No pressure, though – honestly."

I did my best to subtly wave her off as she was digging herself a hole that she definitely didn't want to be in, and she finally took the hint to leave. I turned to Erica, and started apologising for Mom's behaviour.

"Don't worry about it, seriously," Erica said. "I'm not offended at all, because I know what your Mom meant to say."

I heaved a sigh of relief, and started unboxing the pizza. Erica took her box and started selecting slices and putting them on a plate. I did the same, and we sat back and watched Riverdale happily.

I didn't look up until there was another knock on the door. I pressed the finger recognition button on my phone, which I had put on charge, and saw that it was 19:34. I was surprised that it was just seven thirty in the evening, but I guess time flies when you're having fun, which was a phrase that I found cringy and absolutely hated but was unfortunately an apt turn of phrase for the situation.

I got up and answered the door, turning back for a second when I realised that I hadn't managed to pause the TV but saw that Erica was already trying to sort it. Mom was at the door, and so I just let her straight in.

"Everything all right here, you two?" she asked, leaning down to move the plates and the boxes back onto the tray and standing back up again when she was confident that she could securely balance it.

"Yeah," I said, looking over to Erica who nodded in agreement.

"I actually had a text from Mom," Erica said. "She said that she still wasn't 100% sure who was going to pick me up, but she said that it would be around eight o'clock and quarter past."

"Thanks," Mom said. "That's really helpful. I'll send whoever turns up straight up here when they arrive."

"Thank you, Aunt Rachel," Erica said, and I decided to try and encourage Mom to leave as I didn't want her to be embarrassing towards me again, and I knew that the longer she spent in here, the longer that there was a possibility of that happening.

Mom finally left, and I went back and sat cross-legged on the blanket next to Erica again.

"Shall we watch something else?" I asked.

Erica shrugged. "I really don't mind," she said, "Whatever you want to watch."

I started flicking through the films recommended for me to watch, and came across one with the name 'Dumplin'. I read the description, and thought that made it sound interesting to me so I clicked on the film. It started playing, and I sat back on my bed, getting comfortable again after leaning slightly forward to be able to read the movie descriptions.

I became so engrossed in the film, that I didn't notice Erica leave the room. I pause the film and open the door onto the landing to see if she was there. I couldn't hear anything at first, but then I heard muffled voices coming from the bathroom.

Not wanting to interrupt, I decided to knock on the door instead. At first there's no answer, but the door opens a crack and I see that Erica's been sitting on the chair that is usually used to hold clothes whilst you use the shower but is empty right now. The expression on her face is one of somewhere between confusion and no emotion.

I shot her a concerned look, and she tried to wave me away. I took that at as a cue to stay with her until the conversation had finished. She said something to whoever she was on the phone with, and hung up.

"What's going on?" I asked, unsure whether it was the right time to ask questions or not but also being unable to wait for answers.

"I don't honestly know," Erica replied, heaving a huge sigh. "Mom was just calling to say that she and dad still didn't know who was coming to pick me up, and that something had happened but she wouldn't be more specific than that, although I could tell from her voice that something's pretty off."

"Oh, god," I said, unsure exactly what I was feeling whilst also being pretty certain a large amount of it was fear for Erica and Jack and Aunty Monica and Uncle Chandler. "So are you staying here then?"

"I don't bloody know!" Erica said, a little louder than I think she meant. Seeing my taken aback expression, she said, "I'm sorry, I just hate that no one will tell me anything about what's going on. Like, if this was me panicking and Mom didn't know, she would be all over me trying to find out what was up and it's like she's not allowing me to know when the situation is reversed."

"It's fine," I said, offering a hug to Erica. "I'm sure Mom won't mind it if you have to stay the night."

"Thanks," Erica said, but I could tell that she was miles away. She opened the door, and shut it straight afterwards carefully so she didn't make a move. I waited a few minutes until I could be pretty certain that she wasn't going to be right outside the door, and opened it myself.

I had a feeling that she had gone down the stairs, down into the main part of the house so I followed that direction. I made sure that I was being as light-footed as possible, whilst still moving pretty swiftly. I managed to successfully reach the main part of the house, and crawl past Mom and Dad's room. I crept up the corridor, until I saw Erica's crouched figure squatting in a blind spot near the kitchen.

The closer I got to Erica, the louder the voices that seemed to be coming from the kitchen got. I recognised Mom, Aunt Monica and Dad in there. I couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but from Monica's strangled tone, Dad's incredibly stern-sounding voice that he only used when he was desperately trying to hold himself together and Mom's voice sounding desperate in a way that seemed to be trying to be pushed to sound as calm as possible so she could be the reasonable one in the room, it was nothing good at all.

I decide that the only way I'm going to be able to figure out what's going on and not be caught by Erica, is to carefully announce my presence and ask her to tell me all she had heard so far. I started to edge closer towards Erica, and tapped on her shoulder from behind when I was close enough.

"What's going on?" I whispered, now being able to hear the full extent of two incredibly stressed adults and the third trying to sound calm but the mask slipping

with every next word.

"I still don't quite know," Erica hissed back, "As far as I can figure out, something's going on and it concerns both Mom and Ross. It also seems to be really quite serious."

I consider giving a sarcastic response in return, but managed to stop myself.

We don't talk anymore; just try to listen if there's anything more we can gather from what's being said. I hear the word 'Geller' being thrown around a few times, but dismiss it as I know that it's Dad's and Monica's name so it's not like anyone's saying anything new.

I hear a sharp intake of breath from in front of me, and realise that it was Erica. She seems to have shocked herself, because I see her attempt to stabilise herself again, but accidentally hit the wall.

The bang from the wall is loud enough for the kitchen door to swing right open and for me and Erica to see Monica, Dad and Mom all looking right down at us.

"How much have both of you heard?" Mom asks, looking from me to Erica.

"It doesn't matter," Dad says. "They deserve to know anyway, especially Erica."

I can hear Erica's breathing intensifying and becoming shakier.

"Actually, they both do," Monica adds. "Lara is as much of her granddaughter as Erica is."

"Who's granddaughter?" I say, even though I have a disturbingly good idea idea of exactly who they've been referring to now.

Monica and Dad take a sharp intake of breath in unison. They look at each other, as if to contemplate whether to answer the question or not.

In the end, it's Dad who speaks up. "You guys's grandmother, or Monica and I's mother, has been admitted to the ICU in a critical condition," he said, as if it pained him greatly. "She was admitted very suddenly in the early evening."

I was right. Erica looks far more shocked than I was. At first she said nothing, but then I realised that she actually seemed to be contemplating whether she should say something.

I looked around from Mom to Aunt Monica to Dad, but none of them spoke. I heard a squeak of someone's voice, and followed Mom and the others gaze to Erica.

"Why wouldn't you tell me earlier?" Erica asked, looking directly at Aunt Monica. "The one time where I should probably know what's going on is the one time you decide not to tell me," she shook her head. "Unbelievable!"

Judging on the chorus of heavy breathing, I wasn't the only one who thought the comment was poorly timed.

I was about to open my mouth to make a comment, when someone flashed past me. I looked in the direction they'd come from, and at Dad and Mom's shocked but worried expressions, I knew it was Monica.

Dad and Mom started talk with each other frantically but in a hushed tone, and I decided to talk to Erica because I wanted to check up on her, as it was very out of character of her to make a comment like she did so something had to be up especially given the situation.

"You all right?" I said, wrapping my arm around Erica's hunched shoulders.

She sniffed. "I'll be fine," she said, trying desperately to sound together. "I'm just worried for Mom. I didn't mean anything I said, I was just so frustrated.." she ended up trailing off because she had started choking up.

"She's your Mom, I'm sure she'll understand," I say, even though I know it's Aunt Monica and it's often difficult to gauge exactly how she'll feel or react to more serious situations or news in particular. From what I know, even having such a strong reaction to the news of her ill Mom must have surprised the others at first because everyone in the immediate family knows the history of the rocky relationship between my grandparents and her.

A/N: Whew! That was quite intense, I gotta be honest with you. Before I ask for the usual review and suggestions for improvements etc., I just want to say as a disclaimer that for quite a while now until we are about halfway through the story across all three books in the trilogy, I will be writing with the themes of grief and how that affects the characters lives, so I ask you to keep that in mind if you would find it upsetting. The good news is, however, that after this part there are going to be some major but very exciting milestones in the book that I hope you'll stick around long enough to see. As usual, thank you so much for all the support and reviews that you have already given me and it means a lot, and keep it coming. I would also like to finally add that the story will start to make more sense if you keep up with the other two books as I update them for chronological reasons, so just keep that in mind when you're reading it in the future.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Don't worry, I hadn't forgotten the trilogy in the excitement of my two new projects! I will be continuing to regularly update all three books in the trilogy as I write the other two, and have decided to discontinue the other two books either temporarily or completely, depending on how I feel about them in the near future. Moving on from that to what I really wanted to say, I was just going to thank everyone for the support and encouragement that I have received from all three books, and how it makes me happier than I can express in words. Bottom line is, without you guys, my books would be nothing so thank you and I hope that you will consider to support me:

Chapter 5 – Ross

"Are you sure you're okay?" I said, glancing at Monica as we walked down the corridors of the hospital to the ICU where Mom was. It had taken a while to persuade her, but we had both decided that the best thing we could do is visit Mom and spend as much time with her as possible given uncertainty of the situation.

"I'm fine," Mon said, and I probed no further because I knew better than anyone that she was lying but also that she wasn't going to admit it.

The rest of the walk to the entrance to the ICU was in silence. I opened the door, and straight up to the woman who was standing behind the desk that seemed to make up the reception area of the ward.

"My sister and I are here to see our mother, Judy Geller," I said, glancing over at Mon, who was standing beside me nervously shifting from one leg to another.

The woman's expression changed to one of sympathy. "Sure," she said, pointing down the ward. "She's just behind the double doors at the end. She's in a stable condition, and I'm sure would really appreciate seeing her son and daughter."

I smiled politely, and motioned to Monica to follow me down the ward. The closer we got, the harder it seemed to be to walk forward. It was almost like by actually seeing Mom, I would be forced to admit that this was reality and that I couldn't hide from it. Having Mon also here was surprisingly comforting, I concluded, as I pushed the door open to Mom's room.

"Ross, Monica," Mom said, as she looked up from her hospital bed. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" I could tell that she was trying to be funny, and so I chuckled politely, hoping that she wouldn't be able to tell that it was insincere.

"Well, we thought we'd come visit you," I started to say, trying to sound jolly, and knowing that Monica was going to be glad that she wouldn't have to say something. Whilst we still can, I added mentally and immediately regretted it.

I eye Monica, who has moved to sit on the edge of Judy's bed. I didn't expect the atmosphere to be so awkward, but I guess it's kind of expected if you are trying your best to avoid the reason you are actually here like we are. She looks back at me, her expression full of despair and discomfort.

"So what's new in your lives?" Mom asked, looking from me to Monica. I appreciated her attempts at striking up conversation, and was contemplating replying before I noticed that Monica seemed to want to answer.

"Jack and Erica started high school a few weeks ago," Monica said. We both knew that talking about the twins was a safe topic, as usually Mom did have a habit of turning any other topic into some kind of snarky comment at Mon.

"And they're happy?" Mom prompted, sounding more animated now that we were talking about two of her grandchildren.

Monica nodded, and I spotted a hint of smile. "They're settling in well. Erica actually shares a class with Lara," she added.

Mom nodded. "A small family reunion every day!" she laughed.

"Well, yes, if you could say that," Monica shrugged, the sombre expression returning to her face.

"Has Dad been to see you much?" I asked, not being able to stand the thought of another awkward silence.

Mom nodded. "The guy's barely been able to leave the place," she said. "I keep telling him that I'm going to be fine and that he doesn't need to spend his every waking hour with me, but clearly that hasn't done anything." She chuckled, and I caught a glimpse of what I was pretty sure something between doubt and fear as Mom reshuffled herself.

"Is there anything we can do?" I ask, a dreaded feeling of helplessness crowding me. "I know you have Dad, but if we can do anything else…" I end up trailing off, because I can feel that there's really not much more time before I would completely choke up.

"Yeah," Monica agreed, in a voice that was almost too quiet for me to hear. It was pretty apparent to me that she was feeling exactly the same way as I was, and I wanted more than anything right then to be able to reassure her.

We both watched in silence, waiting for Mom to answer. She looked from Monica to me, and started talking. "Honestly, I don't think you can do much more than what you're already doing," she says. "Just keep coming to visit, and bring the kids along sometime."

"Oh, you can guarantee that I'll be doing that!" I said, watching Mom's expression light up at the mention of her grandchildren. "I'll bring Rach along too."

Mom continued smiling. "And you, Monica?" she said, making eye contact with her. "Should I expect to see the twins?"

Monica nodded. "Sure, Mom," she said, still worryingly quietly.

It looked like Mom was going to reply, and I was considering saying something myself to make sure Mon was okay when there was a knock on the door. The door was pushed open and nurse walked in. She looked a little awkward at first, but she started talking almost immediately.

"I hope I'm not bothering you at all," she said, eyeing all three of us, "but it's just that you have a visitor who's pretty desperate to see you."

"Send them in," Mom instructed, and I was a little shocked at how quickly she had replied without even asking who it was. The feeling of shock was short-lived, however, as Dad walked in. "What a nice surprise!" he exclaimed happily.

He walked straight over to Monica to hug her. A few seconds later, they broke apart and he came over to me. "Ross - how are you, son?" he said, still happy.

"Not bad, Dad," I replied. "And Rachel, Ben and the girls aren't doing too badly either."

"Good to hear," Dad said, affectionately slapping my arm. "Especially given the circumstances," he added quieter so only I could hear and with a much more serious tone.

I nodded in agreement. Even though I know that Dad was putting up a brave face for Mom, he must be far more affected by the situation than he is letting on. I couldn't imagine how I would feel in his situation with Rachel, but I know for sure that it wouldn't be easy at all. I looked over at Mon, who was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed whilst Mom and Dad talked. Even though she didn't look like she was upset or bothered, I could tell that she was deep in thought and how that was most likely to be something to do with Mom.

I sat down beside her and said, "You all right?" She looked up and I saw in her eyes that something was deeply troubling her. "I'll be okay," she replied.

"You know that you can always talk to me, right?" I said, hoping that Mon would feel reassured because I knew she really needed it.

"I do," she said, a fleeting smile appearing on her face. "Mom will be okay, right?" she said, more hesitantly and with a desperately hopeful look in her eyes. I could feel my heart breaking, because I was desperate to be able to say to her that she would be, when in reality we both knew that nothing was certain and it was all a waiting game.

"I'm sure she will," I say, hoping that maybe if I say it, then I will start to believe it myself. "I'm sure the doctors are doing all they can to make sure of it."

Mon smiled at me, but I could still tell that she was just as unsure as I was. It was driving me mad that no one could do anything about our situation but I was also trying to get on with life as we had before to try and seize any shred of normality that it was possible to keep hold of.

"Are you planning on staying for long?" Dad asked me from where he was sitting near Mom.

I looked at Mon, and she shrugged. "I guess as long as you want us to," I said. Rachel had offered to look after the girls after I said that I planned to come here and I was sure that Chandler would've said something similar to Mon.

"Okay, that's fine," Dad said. "What time is it?" he said, looking down at his wrist to check the time on his watch. "It's almost midday – have either of you kids eaten anything since breakfast?" he asked Mon and I.

Mon and I both shook our heads. I hadn't even thought about lunch given the circumstances and I doubt that Mon would've either.

"I'll take you to the Starbucks onsite," Dad said. He looked back at Mum and said, "If that's all right with you, darling?"

Mom nodded. "I wouldn't want to keep you guys hungry," she said. "Besides, it's probably going to be nice to get a break from all the seriousness of the ward."

I thought that was a fair point, but I still felt a little guilty for leaving her. I could tell that Mon was feeling the same way, but we both followed Dad as he led us out of the ward. We followed him to the Starbucks that was close to the main entrance to the hospital, and walked in.

"Does one of you want to grab a seat so we can be sure that we'll definitely get a seat?" Dad asked, looking from Mon and I.

"Sure," I said. "All I want is a Grande Flat White and a bacon roll."

"Sure," Dad said, making a mental note of my order. I left him and Mon at the counter, and started looking for seats. There was a table in the back right corner with four chairs that was free, which I decided would be the perfect place as it would mean that we would have a bit more privacy than if we were any closer to the front counter of the café.

I sat down and waited patiently for the others. I heard a faint but persistent buzzing sound, and looked down at my pocket and realised it was my phone. I pressed down on the home button, and saw that Rachel had texted me just hoping that everything was going okay and that there was no problems. As I was replying that we were just getting lunch, I realised how much I appreciated and how comforting Rachel checking up on me was. I'm so glad I married her, even if it did take just over 20 years to finally

tie the knot.

Dad and Mon came over, balancing a tray and all the drinks between them. Dad took the seat between Mon and I, as he always had done when we were kids, and started helping Mon to pass out all the food between us. I noticed that Mon had got an Expresso which didn't surprise me at all because I honestly think we all could've done with more caffeine than we probably needed just to have the energy to keep on going with all the stress right now.

"How have you two been holding up?" Dad asked, the serious tone from earlier returning to his voice.

"I've been existing," Mon says, seeming too tired to even be surprised by how defeated and worn out she sounded. "Barely, but getting there."

"Has Chandler been helping out all?" Dad asked, and I saw concern in his expression and echoed in his voice.

"I guess," Mon shrugged.

I could tell that dad was still deeply concerned about Mon, but didn't want to push any further in case he upset Monica more. Dad decided to turn to me, "What about with Rachel?"

"Oh, she's been really helpful and understanding," I say, realising as I said it again just how truly grateful I was for how she had been. "Carol and Susan have been, too, because I thought that naturally Ben should know and he told them so they called to say that they hoped everything ended up okay and that they were keeping all of us in their thoughts."

"That's absolutely wonderful to hear," Dad said, smiling as he seemed genuinely happy that everyone seemed to care as much as they did. I guess that's the power of family.

We spent the rest of lunch updating Dad on the lives' of his grandchildren. It was still mostly me doing the talking, but I could tell that even Mon really enjoyed talking about her children as you would expect but it was nice in that moment to hear even a shred of joy in her voice.

"Do you kids want to go back and see your mother?" Dad asked, as both Mon and I helped him clear away our rubbish.

I shot a glance at Monica, and she nodded. "We both will," I said, decidedly.

"Okay, then," Dad said, as we followed him out of Starbucks and back to the ward. He seemed to know his way around, which didn't surprise me if he had been spending as much time here as Mom had said he had been.

When Mom saw all three of us walking in, her face lit up. "My favourite people!" she exclaimed, smiling into the coffee mug that she was holding.

I smiled back, genuinely happy that Mom was so jolly and appreciative of us even just being here. "Have they given you anything for lunch yet?" I asked.

"Yeah," Mom nodded. "All hospital food is gross though, but there's no way that I could cook for myself. Believe me - if there was, I would've tried by now!" She chuckled. Mon definitely gets her determination from Mom, even though she would try and deny it as much as she could.

"Maybe Mon could bring you some of her cooking some time?" Dad suggested, shooting Mon a glance. He had been the one who was more supportive of Mon's career than Mom, and he knew that for Mon it was one of the ways that was usually a sure-fire way to make her happy. She shot him a small smile back.

"I'd like that," Mom said, to mine and Mon's surprise. Usually Mom had barely anything nice to say about Mon or her career, so this was clearly a huge moment. I glanced at Mon, who's expression was one of somewhere between bewilderment and pride.

"Erm.. th-thanks," Mon says, as she gave Mom a small smile. Mom smiled back.

"It's so nice to be all together," I said and then realised that I had changed the topic abruptly and probably just confused everyone.

"What, sorry?" Dad said, a confused look on his face. His expression quickly changed just as I was about to repeat myself and so I assumed that he had remembered. "Oh, yes it is, especially with both of you being so buys with your own careers and families."

"It really is," Mom added, a smile spreading across her face. I flashed a smile at Mon, and she smiled back. I knew that she missed me as much as I missed her, but admittedly we did stay in contact with each other far better than with Phoebe and Mike or Joey. We didn't even see Mom and Dad that much, so any chance to see them was always appreciated by Mon and I and them, even if I was the only one expressing out of Mon and I who expressed it at the time.

A/N: I thought it would be a good idea to end the chapter here on a relatively happy and sentimental note. I also wanted to sincerely apologise for the recent hiatus that I took; I was busy with exams and was experiencing writer's block whilst binge-watching a lot of Friends. This will probably the first of quite a spam of chapters across all three of the books within the trilogy as, contrary to what I said in the author note at the beginning, I am really just trying to focus on putting all my attention into the trilogy and making it the best it could possibly be, especially since it continues to receive the most positive attention of all the projects I have started. Just before I go, a friendly reminder to check out all the chapters before this one in this book and in the other two, and I still strongly suggest that you read each of the chapters as they are uploaded as it is becoming more and more essential as the general storyline for all three novels progresses. Thank you again for all the support that you have given me, and I hope that you will continue to enjoy reading the story as much as I love writing it. Please let me know your feelings towards the story so far in a review and don't hesitate to also make suggestions for plot developments as they would be particularly appreciated right now.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I know that I just updated this book like yesterday, but once I get on a roll with doing these updates it's really hard to stop. Being passionate about the trilogy as a whole helps too! Nevertheless, thank you so much for all the continued support that I am receiving across all three books, and I would encourage you to check the other two out as well as this book in its entirety so far if you haven't already. Please review and leave me suggestions for improvements as a writer or plot ideas you think I should consider, because I'm coming up to a part in the stories where my ideas are significantly limited. I think that's all I have to say, so without further ado, let's continue on to the story:

Chapter 6 – Rachel

"Thanks for dinner, Mom," Emma said, as she shut the door to the kitchen behind her.

Lara had already gone back upstairs, and Ross was still sitting across the table from me. Surprisingly, for once he was actually scrolling through his phone, as opposed to his usual choice of reading the latest edition from his monthly Palaeontology magazine subscription. Emma had already moved all the plates for us off of the table on my request.

I suddenly felt a craving for coffee. "Hey, Ross," I said, as he looked up at the mention of his name. "Do you want some coffee?" He nodded, which answered the question obviously, but was also seriously annoying as he had been barely been talking to me over the last few days unless it was part of polite conversation. "What's up with you?" I surprised myself by saying out loud, as it had just been a thought literally two seconds ago.

"What's up with me what?" Ross asked, looking pissed already that I wished to disturb his reading time any more than I already had. "Like, what are you trying to get at?"

"I just want to know why we haven't really even been having proper conversations with each other," I said, trying to not let my temper affect how I responded just yet. "I know about Judy and everything, but are you really going to let it burn all the bridges that you have with the people that could actually help you? I don't even really feel like your wife anymore."

"Bit too far, don't you think?" Ross replied, his expression nonchalant, from where he was sitting.

"Yes," I say, now really having to focus hard on not letting Ross's apparent disinterest in the situation get to me. "But I need to prove to you just how ridiculous you're being because you shouldn't have to deal with this alone, so I'm going to."

"Two can play that game, then!" Ross said, squaring up to me.

I realised I had forgot how insufferably stubborn he could be in my frustration in trying to make my point heard. "Remember you can tell me anything and I will do my best to support you," I said, lowering my voice because I wasn't angry really at Ross, and I was desperate for Ross to know that.

"Thanks, Rach," Ross said, looking me in the eye and I saw genuine appreciation in expression. "I do really love you."

"I know you do," I say, moving off of my seat to give him a hug. "Could you just promise me that you will allow me to support you?"

"Of course," Ross said. I could hear in his voice that he was about to break down, my heart was honestly about to break for him. I knew that he and Mon had been massively struggling, and what didn't help at all was that it was my husband and my long-time best friend and sister-in-law. I could barely bear the helplessness that had been crowding my mind constantly.

"Have you spoken to Monica since the latest hospital visit?" I asked, not wanting to accidentally edge into unchartered territory and have Ross become unreachable again.

"We decided that we needed a bit of space to focus on our own lives," Ross said, his tone suggesting that he wasn't entirely happy with it.

"Do you mean 'we' or Monica decided that?" I asked, cynically.

"It was actually my decision," Ross said, a little defensively. He had definitely picked up on my tone. "I couldn't stand to be around Mon, as a constant reminder of the situation with Mom and Dad."

I was shocked by the fact that I felt a little angry at Ross's response. I couldn't ignore the fact that Ross seemed to be fuelling his own denial by pushing away his own sister, who needed his company and love more than anyone probably right now, as Ross was the only person who was going through this situation in almost, if not completely, the same way.

"You do know that Mon needs you almost more than anybody else right now, right?" I said, hoping that I wouldn't cross the boundary too far, as I knew that this was still an incredibly sensitive topic and didn't want to unnecessarily upset Ross in any way.

Ross floundered, clearly trying to come up with a reason to justify himself.

"It's fine," I said, the fact that I didn't want to upset Ross taking over my conscience as the most important factor to base further reactions off of. "I don't need an answer, you should just try and call her later because, even though it's probably not going to feel like it at the moment, but you and Mon will probably feel better as a result."

Ross nodded, as if he had already thought of doing it before and had expected me to mention it, but had still deliberately chosen not to. "Fine," he said, eventually as if it say it had taken a lot of effort. "I'll call her later."

"Actually," I said, my hand reaching out across Ross's waist to the pocket where his phone was, "you're going to go to the living room and call Monica." I ignored Ross's surprised and slightly annoyed expression.

Ross grabbed his phone back off of me, and walked out of the kitchen to the living room. I followed him, wanting to make sure that he actually did it, and also because I wanted a chance to be able to speak to Mon myself.

It was only when I sat on the couch next to Ross that he realised, with an expertly timed eye roll, that I was there too. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to make some backhand comment at me, and then thought the better of it. The phone started ringing a couple of minutes later, and I could see from his posture that Ross was nervous.

"Um, Monica," he said, hesitantly. "Hi! It's Ross," he added a few seconds later, looking more relieved. "Yeah, I just wanted to check that everything was going all right for you and Chandler. Well, as all right as they can be." Probably shouldn't have said that, I thought, as I had a feeling that it might remind Monica of everything that was going on and then be completely unhelpful and defeat the point of the conversation.

Ross paused for a while, listening to Mon. "Well, that's going to take a massive weight off of your shoulders! I'm the twins are loving the company, and don't forget that Erica and Jack will always be welcome to stay here for as long as you need them to," he said.

I must have zoned out, because the next thing I heard Ross say was, "Oh god. Oh god." I shot him a concerned look, which he waved away despite the fact that it was apparent that he was panicking. "What happened?" he asked, brow furrowed, after taking a few seconds to compose himself.

He nodded along, clearly thinking as Mon replied. "That must have been so difficult," he said, sympathy clear in his tone. "And to find out both things at the same time… Poor Jack." He looked flustered for a second and added, "And poor you, too, because it didn't sound at all that you wanted it to end up that way."

Concern still clear in his expression, Ross sat listening again to Monica. "Has Chandler been helping you out at all?" he asked, appearing as surprised as I felt by him even feeling that need to ask that. "You just haven't mentioned him an awful lot."

By this time, my worrying radar has started to go off. Why would Chandler not be trying to help Mon as much as he could, especially knowing how much of a toll on her the situation was having? Before I could stop it, anger flared up in me. What would have possessed Chandler to honestly think he could just ditch his wife's feelings like that?

"Give me the phone."

Ross looked at me, confused whilst also trying to make sure he was hearing everything being said over the phone.

"Give me the phone," I said, emphasising each word to convey how urgently I needed to speak to Monica.

Ross didn't react, so I moved to grab the phone out of his hand. He realised what I was doing too slow, so I put the phone to my ear and started talking before he could fully register what was going on.

"Hi Mon, it's Rachel," I said, unable to resist giving Ross a triumphant smile.

"Oh, hi Rachel," Monica said, sounding surprised. "I didn't expect to end up speaking to you."

Ross was now trying to grab my attention by miming me giving back the phone to him, which I completely ignored and continued talking. "We were in the living room together, and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and so I decided that I needed to talk to you as your slightly concerned best friend."

"Oh," she said, this time sounding a lot more tired and worn out than I had initially thought. "Well, okay then. Ask away."

"So, what's been going on then?" I had a feeling that I knew a least some of what was going on, but being at the other end of the call definitely had left me still with many questions.

"Not much, honestly," Mon replied. She paused for a minute before continuing on, "Just regular life, I guess. The kids actually just went to stay over at Phoebe's and Mike's like a day ago. Erica had already gone over but Jack joined her yesterday," she corrected.

"How come?" I asked, remembering a second later that I had already figured it out.

"Phoebe and Mike just thought, with everything going on, that Chandler and I would appreciate some peace and quiet from having to worry about the kids as well," Mon replied, sounding as if she was about to continue on.

"And?" I said, hoping that this might help her.

"Jack and I also kinda had quite a big argument too," Mon added as I started to worry that perhaps forcing her to bring it up was not a good idea. "It's sorted now, but there was some things that neither of us should've said to each other, or were said at completely the wrong time."

"If you don't mind me asking," I said, knowing that Mon would have a pretty good idea of where I was taking this, "what kind of things?"

There was a moment of silence where I was convinced that I had gone too far and I was definitely not going to get any answer. Just as I was about to change the subject, Mon started talking again.

"Just things like how Chandler and I are terrible parents, and the fact that Jack and Erica were adopted." As she was talking, I noticed that her tone seemed to be incredibly calm and nonchalant for the weight of what she had just said. Maybe I hadn't heard her properly, or the phone line meant that I couldn't hear her tone as she wanted me to.

"Are you serious?" I said, my gut feeling telling me that she was serious, but for the sake of all of the Gellers, I hoped she was trying to make some kind of sick joke as an attempt at trying to deal with the situation like Chandler would.

The forthcoming silence between us gave me all the answers I needed. "Oh god," I winced. "How are you guys getting by?" I realised how dramatic it sounded, but at the same time they were dealing with a very serious, devastating situation.

"Jack being out of the house has helped," Mon started to say, "though, judging from the fact that they both have left me on read for almost a day with every single message I have sent, Erica now knows too. Chandler and I have just tried to get on with things without thinking too much about the situation, and just focusing on trying to avoid mentioning it either."

"Have you spoken to him at all?" I asked, again hoping that this wasn't going too far and almost definitely regretting saying something at all.

"Yes!" Monica said, sounding a little defensive in the familiar manner that I knew all too well from Ross when we felt threatened or doubted. "About stuff like what we're eating for dinner, our work shifts to make sure that we don't clash with each other, the only part of the housework that I actually let Chandler help me with."

To me that sounded more like 'how much can I say to Chandler to ensure that I can dodge all proper conversations so they aren't uncomfortable or upset either of us' rather than normal conversations between a couple. It did prove to me that my assumptions that it had been Chandler who was pushing Mon away had not been very well placed, as it was clear that it was a joint effort to stay as far away from properly conversing as they could.

"Does he even know that you're carrying so much weight on your shoulders?" I asked, hoping that how much I cared that both she and Chandler were happy would be conveyed through my tone.

I heard Mon clear her throat, as if she was gearing up to answer me. "He knows about Jack because I was a mess from shaking and crying so much during the fight, and I guess it was one of things that you can't easily recover from quickly without having to explain yourself," Mon said, and I could picture her shrug after she finished her sentence.

"What did he say?" I asked, still worried as she hadn't really given me any examples of Chandler actually caring enough to be satisfied that Mon was being looked after as much as she deserved to be.

"He made one of his usual jokes," she said, "and said that everything would be sure to work out fine and that he would be here for me whatever happens."

I guess that was pretty satisfactory, I thought, if a little run-of-the-mill standard and easy to say but not quite as easy to stick to. "I just hope he sticks to his word," I said. There was a silence, in which I assumed was because Mon was trying to figure out exactly what it was I was trying to get at. "I just couldn't help overhearing you say to Ross that you basically haven't been having proper conversations with Chandler at all," I said, hoping that would be a good enough explanation of what I had meant by the comment.

"Oh, that was nothing!" Mon said, dismissing me.

It _was_ something. "Monica Geller-Bing! You know it is something and you're going to tell me what it is!" I said, adopting my best stern, authoritative voice that Ross always cracked under.

"Fine," Monica said, after a few minutes. She never, ever gave up this quickly usually. She really _was_ exhausted from this whole situation, and I felt my heart start to break for her again because I couldn't stand her being under so much pressure that she seemed to be barely herself anymore. "We both haven't been talking much to each other at all, because I can't bear to bring up the situation anymore because it feels like I should be dealing with this myself since Judy's my mother, not Chandler's, and I told Jack about Erica, not Chandler so why involve him and cause him unnecessary pain that I know he will be barely able to cope with?"

"Will you stop thinking about other people before yourself for once? _You're_ clearly the one struggling here whilst trying to balance all of this, so _you_ deserve to be able to be selfish and ask for help especially in this kind of situation," I say, hoping that Monica won't immediately go to her 'I'm going to do this on my own' bullshit mindset as she always does.

"No," Monica said, and I could tell that she was really trying to test me here.

"So you want to literally be so worn out that you become seriously ill then?" I say, hoping that being completely frank with her would be the approach that makes her crack.

"Not quite like that," she starts to say, almost as a reflex, before I cut her off.

"That will be the reality of what happens," I say, dead seriously.

This time Monica doesn't reply so quickly. There was a long pause before she finally started speaking again, her voice eerily quiet. "Really?" she asked, reminding me of when Emma and Lara were much younger and used to sound like this when they were asking for something they desperately wanted or were scared and wanted reassurance.

It was like Mon was my daughter and I was a mom to her.

"Yes," I say, trying to make sure that my voice also sounded reassuring without losing its seriousness. "But you can change it by letting someone else like me or Chandler carry some of the weight from your shoulders."

I could tell that Mon was thinking it over. "Will you at least let Chandler and I try? And Ross as well?" I say, quickly glancing at Ross who nodded that it was fine to mention him. "Please?"

"Okay," I heard as a response. "I'll try."

"You sure about that?" I added, wanting to make sure that Mon was going to stick to her word for the moment, at least.

"Whatever floats your boat," I heard Mon say back to me, clearly trying to divert the attention off of what I was actually asking. I didn't have the time to argue with her, so I acknowledged her response anyway and said nothing more of it as I handed the phone back to Ross.

A/N: This has been a slightly longer chapter than my usual recently, so I hope you enjoy it and I haven't rambled on too much or something. Regardless, I hope you will check out the rest of this book and the other two that are within the trilogy this chapter is from, and read and review to leave your thoughts on this chapter and suggestions for plot arcs or technical improvements I can make with my writing. Thank you again for the all the support being thrown my way, and I will try and update the trilogy again soon as I have already chosen the basic plot for quite a few yet.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: So I'm particularly excited about this chapter because one of the original kids is finally making a comeback (I'm sure you can guess who it is now). With my limited understanding of the American school system, I'm going to assume that you could still be in college at the age of 23. With that disclaimer (sort of) over, just a friendly reminder to check out the rest of my writing for this trilogy and I ask that you would leave your thoughts towards this chapter in a review along with any technical improvements I could make or suggestions for further plot ideas. Thank you again for all the support, and as I have said before, the consistent amount of high drama that has become a recent theme across all three books should begin to ease off in the coming chapters, but will of course return. Let's go straight onto the next chapter:

Chapter 7 – Ben

"Ben!"

I looked up and saw that one of my oldest friends here at college, Kyle, was calling me over. He was sitting with the rest of our small group, sharing coffee whilst studying for the fall finals that were coming up. I'd moved away from them to make a phone call to Dad and Aunt Rachel. I had a favour to ask them that I knew if either of my Moms' found out about, they wouldn't approve of at all but I didn't think that Dad would be likely to tell them.

It was about my Thanksgiving plans, because I had been desperate for a reason to stay at Dad's since college had started again after the summer and my schedule had filled up again. I'd also spent so many Thanksgivings at home that I wanted to change things up a bit and visit some of my other family for a change.

I called Dad, and he picked up on the first ring. "Hey, Ben!" he said, sounding a little hasty, "Is there a chance that you could call back later just because I'm in the middle of my break right now and have to teach again in like five minutes?"

"Sure, sure," I said feeling a little embarrassed and flustered because I had forgotten that Dad was a college professor. "I didn't realise."

"It's fine," Dad replied. "Is half one, my lunch break, okay with you for us to chat?"

"Of course," I said. "I won't keep for much longer, so have a good rest of your break and I'll look forward to speaking to you later."

"You too," Dad replied, and I hung up.

I walked back and sat down at my seat at the table with the rest of the guys. Kyle turned to me and asked, "So what did your Dad say?"

"He said that he would talk to me alter as I accidentally called during his break because for a moment it slipped my mind that he was still a college professor," I said, feeling ashamed at myself for forgetting such an important detail about my own Dad. "So he's going to call me back later at his lunch break when he's not busy."

"Dammit!" Kyle exclaimed. "At least you'll be able to ask him later. Meanwhile, do you wanna continue studying?"

"I guess," I shrugged, now feeling pretty bummed out by the situation. I sat back down at the table with the others and Kyle, and we continued studying and talking.

I didn't look up from my exercise books filled with studying resources for the Engineering course that I was planning on majoring in until I heard my name. "Ben!" I looked up and saw that it was Kyle.

"You haven't talked for, like, half an hour," he said, genuine concern in his expression and tone. "Are you sure you're okay?"

The fact that he could see through basically ever façade that I tried to hide behind was one of my most favourite and least favourite things about having him as a friend. "I just feel so bad about what happened with Dad earlier," I say. "I bet you he's going to think I don't care about him anymore especially since I forgot his dream job. I've gotta say that I haven't been so good at keeping in touch with him and Rachel, but this like takes being a shit son and stepson to a whole other level."

"Hey, mate!" Kyle said, loud enough to bring me back to reality. "Slow the fuck down! You know that your Dad said nothing about feeling like you didn't care, and so you're massively overthinking this whole thing!"

"I know," I said, in a moany, childish voice that made me feel like Kyle was my Mom and I was his daughter. He was right, though. It was just hard to admit that because, just like Dad, I had definitely inherited his love for competition and also always wanting to be right or to have the last word in discussions.

After that, we didn't talk much more, and I managed to completely lose myself in studying. "It's lunch," Kyle said to me, as I realised that I had managed to do about three hours solid revision and was feeling pretty proud of myself. "Do you wanna come with the guys to go get something?"

"Sure," I replied, and then realised that it had been more of a default answer as I just remembered that I wanted to call Dad and wanted to check what time it was in New York. That had been one of the major downsides to attending a college that was on the West Coast and in LA, because it meant that if I wanted to go home to New York to see the rest of my family, I had to fly from LAX to JFK. The college had covered the travel costs within the scholarship that they had offered me when I had applied, but it was still kind of inconvenient.

I decided that I would go to get food anyway, and then check the timings when I got back if Dad didn't call me back himself, as Kyle had helpfully reminded me that he might do that. I ended up ordering what I usually tended to get, which was just whatever sandwich was on special and a Diet Coke. I think Kyle and the others wanted to go somewhere else to sit all together, and as much as I wanted to join them, I knew that I really needed to be available for Dad when he called back.

I told Kyle and the others that I didn't want to join them today, and left the cafeteria for a sheltered courtyard area that I knew of but many of the other students didn't so it was rarely very populated. Just as I was sitting down at an empty bench in the courtyard, my pocket started vibrating and my ringtone started playing.

I hastily answered, not even stopping to look at the caller ID properly. "Hi," I said, "Dad?"

"Hey," he replied. "As I promised, I've called you back and I hope that now is a good time for you to talk as well."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, feeling relieved that he sounded jolly and like he was happy to be talking to me. "I'm fine to talk right now."

"Good, good," Dad replied. "So go ahead and tell me what you wanted to say earlier."

"It was just to ask whether there was any chance that I could spend Thanksgiving weekend with you and Rachel," I started to say, really hoping that either of them didn't feel pressured by me asking them as I know that they had two of their own daughters, both of whom were my half-sisters, and would probably already be very busy.

"I'm sure we could figure something out," Dad said, as if he was thinking how it could work. "Do Carol and Susan know you're asking?" he said, in his authoritative tone that he used when he was teaching and when he disciplined me when I was younger.

"No," I said, realising that this could be a deal breaker, but also knowing that they would both be reluctant to let me go with Dad and I would have no chance of getting my way. "They would object anyway, and I just wanted to spend time with my other family, since they aren't my only family members."

"I totally get that," Dad said. "I don't see why Rachel would object, and I'm sure Emma and Lara would love to see their big half-brother." The line went quiet for a few seconds, and I said, "Dad?" because I was starting to worry.

"There's something else you should probably know," Dad said, when he started talking again. His tone was more serious this time, but with an edge to it that I couldn't quite detect. "You know your grandmother?" he asked.

Of course I remembered my grandmother. After all, she wasn't an easy person to forget, especially with her habit of saying whatever she thinks whenever she wants. I think she had a soft spot for me and Emma though, as I remember her always looking after and playing with us when we were both much younger children. I realised that rather than feeling happy about reminiscing about the memories we had made, I had remembered that Dad had been talking with an edge to his tone and started to worry that it was related not only to her, but it also meant that there was news that wasn't likely to be all that positive.

"What about her?" I asked, hearing how my voice had become a little shaky.

Dad took a deep breath before starting to answer. "She was admitted to the ICU about a couple of weeks ago in a critical condition," he said. "Rachel and I meant to tell you sooner, but there's a high chance that she won't be getting out of there."

My heart sank. "Do they have any idea what it might be?" I asked, feeling my voice shake more violently.

"Nope," Dad replied. "They've completely ruled out cancer and other serious medical conditions, so it's a complete mystery. They're now considering it to be a delayed reaction to some kind of viral infection that irreparably destroyed her immune system after the main symptoms stopped."

"Oh god," I said, barely able to speak because of the lump that had appeared in my throat. "Is there anything they can do for her to delay whatever the outcome will be?" I knew full well what the only outcome seemed to be, but by asking anyway made it feel like there was some kind of hope still in the situation.

"The only think they can think of is keeping her in the hospital and monitoring her condition," Dad said, as if it pained him also to talk about my grandmother as if all we seemed to be waiting for was for her to die. It was like we were just giving up on her, and I wasn't ready to let that happen. "She's stable right now, and Aunt Monica and I have gone and visited her a few times. Maybe we could when you come for Thanksgiving!"

"I would appreciate that," I said, feeling less enthused about going home but also knowing that I owed myself the chance to be able to say goodbye to her before it was too late. Besides, she would kill me if I didn't come and see her because I was her first grandchild and, even though she was not supposed to have favourites, I could tell that I was particularly important to her.

There was a couple of minutes where Dad seemed to be deep in thought before he started talking down the phone again. "I think I'm just going to go ahead and say that Rachel and I will definitely have you come stay with us," he replied. "I'll pay for you to get a flight back out here and a taxi so you don't have to worry about that."

"Thank you so much, Dad," I said, wondering why neither of my Moms' had mentioned anything about the situation when they called. Dad must have mentioned something to them, I concluded, so maybe they didn't want to break the news to me in case it was too upsetting, especially with it being so close to finals. "I can't tell you how thankful I am that you were willing to take me on such short notice."

"It's no problem," Dad replied, his tone genuine. "Anything for family, honestly."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I guess I'd better let you go now," I added, looking down at the watch around my wrist and realising that we had been talking for longer than I had realised.

"It was nice being able to catch up with you," Dad replied, "and I look forward to seeing you very soon!"

"You too," I said, before saying a final goodbye and hanging up.

I just continued to sit and eat in silence where I was sitting in the courtyard. No one had joined me out here in the duration of the call, which I realised was actually quite a relief to me, as I suddenly craved solitude. I couldn't believe that it had been kept from me so long that my grandmother was in hospital, in a critical condition and basically dying. I guess that the fact that I had been out of touch with the rest of the family past my Moms' could be in part to blame for it, but even they probably knew and didn't decide to tell me.

I was tempted to call one of them up and demand an explanation out of them until I realised that my phone battery was only half full and I needed it to last me all day, as a charger would be too far away to get easily until later this evening. I realised I was also kinda glad that this was the case, because I probably would've ended up saying something that I would seriously regret if I was actually able to call and it was some kind of self-control barrier.

My phone vibrated on the table, and I saw a text message notification flash up on the screen. It was Kyle, asking whether I wanted to join them again and how the call had gone. I typed out a quick reply, saying that the call had gone okay and that I was due to be staying with Dad for Thanksgiving, but that the others shouldn't bother waiting for me. As I was just starting to eat again, I got a reply.

Kyle seemed to have somehow picked up on how the call had not gone exactly as I had expected, and was concerned to the point where he was dropping everything he was doing with the others to come straight over to me. Although it was nice of him to do that, the main thing I really wanted to do right now was to completely forget the situation and he didn't seem to have caught onto that yet. Oh well, I shrugged and just started eating again whilst also trying desperately to devise a plan where I could make sure that I wouldn't have to mention the full details of the call to Kyle.

A/N: That's a wrap on this chapter! Let me know if you have enjoyed hearing a bit more from Ben as one of the original children within the TV series, and be sure to check out the other chapters within this novel and my other two books also within this trilogy. Also don't forget to leave your opinion on the chapter in a review and also make plot suggestions and general writing improvements too as they really help me out. Lastly, if this chapter is not as good as my usual ones it's because I'm actually ill will the flu at the moment, and so this is my best attempt given that. Thank you for the continued support that I receive from you guys, and hope you have a great day!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 8 – Emma

"Emma Geller-Green!"

I looked up from where I had been resting my head on the desk to see Mr Henderson, my AP Psychology teacher, looking directly at me. I knew immediately from the look on his face that he didn't approve of my attempt to sleep in class, and started to feel pretty embarrassed when I realised that the majority of my class were no also looking my way.

Fending off as many people as I could with a well-placed scowl, I made eye contact and listened to what Mr Henderson had to say. "I was asking you what the difference between qualitative and quantitative research methods are but clearly you weren't paying attention and don't know the answers," he said.

I didn't like the fact that he was assuming that I had no clue what the answer was, and so I decided to interrupt him before he could start talking again. "Actually, Mr Henderson," I said, "Qualitative is where the data is non-mathematical such as diaries and journals and Quantitative is where the data is mathematical such as statistics and graphs."

"Well done, Emma!" Mr Henderson said, with what I could tell was definitely a forced smile. I knew that I had pissed him off by giving the correct answer and I was pretty damn proud of it. Mom would be proud when I told her later, and Dad. When he met Mr Henderson at Parent Consultation evening, they got into an argument over whether Psychology was a real Science or not in comparison with Palaeontology as representative for Biology.

I kept my head down and focused on the lesson until the bell rung, signalling the beginning of lunch. I was packing away my textbooks when I felt the back pocket of my jeans vibrate. I quickly finished packing away and started scrolling through my phone to see what I had missed.

It was a message from the family text message group chat, so I pulled up the thread and started reading.

 **Dad**

Ben's coming to stay over here over Thanksgiving by the way

 **Lara**

Cool Dad but now I'm about to get in trouble for being on my phone in class

 **Lara**

Oh well lmao

 **Mom**

It would be cool if you could let me know before you agree to stuff like this…

 **Dad**

Ordinarily yes, but I'm not going to turn down family and you know that

 **Mom**

Whatever

 **Me**

Awesome!

 **Dad**

Hey Emma

 **Me**

Hey Dad

 **Lara**

Hey guys it's Erica I stole Lara's phone whilst she went to go pee

 **Dad**

:')

 **Mom**

Hahaha

 **Mom**

Is it bad parenting to say that I'm looking forward to seeing Lara's reaction when she gets back?

 **Lara**

Yes, I would say it is

 **Mom**

How nice of you to join us again!

 **Lara**

You don't understand how tempting it is right now to send the middle finger emoji your way

 **Me**

Break it up! Break it up!

 **Dad**

I'm going because I'm not getting involved and I need to get the coffee before the rush

 **Lara**

Coward

 **Mom**

Who's the immature one now?

 **Me**

Judging by your response, Mom, that would be you

 **Me**

I'm gonna go get food too so bye children

 **Mom**

Bye

Luckily, the line in the canteen for hot food wasn't nearly as long as it was usually. I usually got the cheap junk food from the takeaway counter because I couldn't be bothered to wait for the superior, actually decent equivalent. It was some pasta dish that looked surprisingly appetising for the standards that I had of school dinners, but I was hoping that I wouldn't be disappointed as it was almost $4 that I wouldn't ever get back.

I decided to text one of my friends to see where they all were because I didn't quite fancy eating alone. Bry replied first, which didn't surprise me as she seemed to be permanently attached to her phone. She was with the others in the study hall. I texted back to say that I would be there immediately, and started making my way there.

We weren't technically supposed to bring food into the study hall, but so many people did that the school had given up on trying to enforce the rule. Bry beckoned me straight over the minute I appeared, trying to navigate my way through the entry bollards where you had to scan your ID to be allowed to enter.

I sat down at the table, which was piled high with exercise books and notebooks, various items of stationary and textbooks. Luckily, I wasn't the only one trying to eat lunch, so hopefully that would make me feel a little less uncomfortable about breaking such an obvious rule.

"How was Psychology?" Bry asked. We had different timetables, and I knew that she had just been in AP American History, which her favourite out of all the ones she was taking.

"I mean, I slept through a good load of it," I said, shrugging it off as if it wasn't a big deal. "But it wasn't bad. What about History?"

"Good," Bry replied, and I could tell that I wasn't the only one sitting here that wasn't surprised in the slightest about it. "We're moving onto Civil Rights now, and I'm 100% falling more and more in love with the subject the more lessons we have."

I was genuinely happy for Bry, and I know that she wanted to be either a Historian like the ones who appear in documentaries or a Civil Rights Activist. I personally didn't find either job as interesting as one in Forensic Psychology, but I could definitely see how perfect the subject was for her. We had been friends all the way through middle school, and had celebrated the fact that we were one of the two people who would have someone to lean on when being in high school.

Mom had been surprised that I had wanted to go into more of an academic career and that I tended to surround myself with people who were more like that, but I think it was mainly because her only career aspiration had ever been to go into fashion. She had tried to make me love fashion as much as she did, and whilst I definitely had an appreciation for it, she had made much more of a dent on Lara.

"Anyone else have a particularly good lesson?" I asked, looking around at the others, as I had felt particularly bad for only really striking up a proper conversation with Bry and ignoring the others, who were definitely all good friends of mine.

"I did," Martha replied, as she looked up from the required reading book she was annotating, pastel highlighter in hand as she spoke. "I'm realising more and more how riveting and interesting Shakespeare actually is. Like, how he writes is actually awfully clever and is definitely better than anything I could ever hope to reach."

It was Martha's dream to become a professional author, hence why she had chosen AP English Literature. I had to admit that she more talented than I could ever hope to be when it came to her work, and that I definitely could see her being successful in the future. I had been one of her go-to people when it came to reviewing the number of mini projects that she often started but rarely completely finished. Regardless, it was very much true to say that she did have an awful lot of talent, which her professor had agreed.

"Awesome!" I said, trying to sound as genuinely pleased as I did feel. Martha knew that I wasn't a fan of Shakespeare personally, but I didn't want to let that crush my enthusiasm for her.

"I'm definitely considering dropping Economics for Business," Esmae, who was probably the quietest within our group, said.

It was impossible to keep the shock out of my expression. I could tell that I wasn't the only one, from the collective intake of breath and the fact that when I looked around, almost everyone else mirrored my expression. Esmae was the one in the group who was definitely known for being one of the most skilled Mathematicians I knew. She had a twin brother, who was a complete opposite to her, and seemed to have a new girlfriend each week. Aside from this, his personality was also the complete polar opposite. Understandably, they kept each other at arms' length, particularly at school.

"How come?" I asked, taking particular care to make sure that I didn't sound accusatory when in reality I was just curious.

Esmae shrugged. "It just doesn't cover enough of the skills required to be a manager," she said. "Besides, I'm already doing AP Maths, so I don't honestly need to do really be doing Economics. Honestly, I just signed on to do it initially because it was a safe choice, and I knew that there was a high chance I would enjoy it."

"Fair enough," I said, feeling much less shocked and confused than before, with wanting to be as supportive as I could be at the forefront of my intentions to help with the situation. "Go with what you feel is going to make you the happiest."

Martha nodded along with me and Bry. "Thanks guys," Esmae said, smiling. I knew she appreciated that we were trying to help her, and personally I loved nothing more than making my friends happy so it felt like a win-win situation.

"You're welcome," I said, with a strong feeling that I was speaking for how everyone felt. "What are your plans for Thanksgiving?" I asked, hoping that the sudden topic change wouldn't throw everything completely off.

"Just the usual dinner with family," Martha shrugged. "Although, it does mean that I get to play my History obsessed uncle that I have told you guys about at Trivial Pursuit and win all the History rounds!" She added with a contemplative shrug, "Or attempt to win."

Martha had a very large, chaotic family as we had all experienced whilst staying over at hers various times. It was not unusual for many activities to be going on around the house, and for an awful lot of competitive shouting and groaning to ensue as a result. I had learnt very quickly that if you wanted to have a chance of being heard at all, you had to find a way to stand out, which also made complete sense to explain Martha's exuberant, bold and competitive nature.

"Ben is coming to stay for Thanksgiving and I think a little longer," I said, feeling relieved that I wouldn't have to go into the whole explanation behind who Ben was as they all knew who he was, and Bry had met him a few times. "It's going to be nice to see him, as you guys know that I used to seem him all the time as a young kid, and now he's off to college and never around."

"Yeah," Bry nodded. "You guys would like him," she added, looking around at the others and then at me as if to look for reassurance that it was okay to speak of him like this. I nodded, and she continued. "He's really sweet and polite."

I became very interested in trying to gauge exactly what she was feeling at this point, as I was starting to suspect that maybe there was something more to what she was saying than just being polite so I wouldn't beat her up or something.

"What?" she said, and I felt a sinking feeling as I realised she must have figured it out. "He _is_ sweet."

"He's _also_ my brother," I said, with a stern tone that I hoped would convey that he was off limits. "And there's also this thing called boundaries, which stop people from doing dumb things." I felt a little mean using the word 'dumb' against someone that I knew was far from that, but at the same time, I needed to get the point across that Bry couldn't date him.

Since she was also just almost 17, and he was 23, the 6 year age gap also screamed that the idea was a bad one. Bry gave me a hard stare, and turned away, but I was pretty certain that it was done in humour, and not in genuine hurt.

"Anyone else got plans?" I asked, glad that I was able to attempt to change the subject.

"I think we're going to the Hamptons," Jules said, looking up from the book she was reading. I realised that she had joined us since I had got here, and I started to feel rude that I hadn't acknowledged her presence sooner.

"That's awesome!" I said. "You're so lucky!"

"I guess, yeah," Jules shrugged, as if she didn't necessarily think it was a big a deal as I thought it was. Jules was much more of a bookworm and stuck in her own little world, so her reaction did make sense. She was also a talented artist, even though she didn't seem to believe it all herself. "Mom and dad have their own house there, and so we holiday there pretty often."

"Yeah," I said. "I think you've mentioned that a few times before."

"Oh," Jules replied, sounding surprised. "Have I? Well, this is definitely a testament to how I definitely seem to be permanently daydreaming!"

We all laughed, as this was just something that we had all come to love and appreciate about Jules. The fact that she had such a great sense of humour about it definitely was one of the best parts. She was one of the only people I knew who was willing to trade the hilariously bad Dad jokes that Uncle Chandler and Dad taught me, and had actually been one of the reasons we had bonded.

"You guys will have to come see it sometime," Jules said, looking around to gauge how felt towards the idea.

"Hell yeah!" I said, fist pumping the air. Judging by the fact that all of the others started to look at me with expressions that were both embarrassed and incredulous at the same time, it was possibly too much enthusiasm. "Mom would be so jealous when I told her," I say, gleefully imagining the look on her face when I would tell her.

"You should just go instead of me," I hear Jules say, as if she's trying not to laugh at my reaction but also attempting to sound serious.

"It's your family though," I answer, guilt washing over me. "I wouldn't want to interrupt, especially when it's something like Thanksgiving."

"True," Jules said, seeming to understand where I was coming from. "And it would be too short a notice now, I'm pretty sure, anyways."

"Yeah," I agreed. It was only a week today until Thanksgiving, and it properly dawned on me that I would be seeing Ben much sooner than I had realised. My expression changed to one of happiness, and I could see the others be surprised at first but then they seemed to realise it was probably something to do with Ben.

A/N: I know that there isn't an awfully clear ending here, but I didn't think there was much reason to continue on with the chapter so I hope it makes sense. Just a short reminder to you guys for reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 9 – Rachel

"Should I start the shop for Thanksgiving after work today?" I asked Ross, whilst securing my blazer so I could continue getting ready to walk out the door to work.

"Probably," Ross agreed. My boss had asked me to arrive early at work today for a stock emergency so Ross had kindly agreed to take over the usual morning routine with the girls from me. I had only had time for a quick cup of coffee, hoping that I would be able to stop off at one of the gas stations on the way to work for something more substantial.

"Okay," I said, looking through the shoes at near the door at the foot of the stairs for my heels. I sat on the bottom step of the stairs to put them on, and then stood up and walked to the kitchen to wish Ross a good day and then checking myself once more in the wall mirror as I made my way out to the car.

I unlocked it and got in. I ramped up the heater, as it had definitely already started to cool down despite it still being fall. I turned the radio to hear whatever trashy song was on the radio and started driving out of the cul-de-sac to join the main road. I had dumped my purse on the shotgun seat, along with my work Filofax.

Even though the fashion industry wasn't one of the most academic or impressive in that respect, it didn't mean that we slacked on appearance or making sure that every member of the workforce was equipped with the latest business gadgets. Ross had complained that we were pretentious, but it had been one of his comments that I had always ignored because he had always been critical of my choice to have a career in fashion so I took it as nothing particularly special or unusual.

Just as I felt my body start to scream again at me that I really needed to not be running on a completely empty stomach, I caught sight of a gas station in my peripheral vision. I realised that I was going to be able to pull straight in from where I was on the road and immediately did.

In the shop, I saw a small hot counter that seemed to be fully stocked. I picked up a bacon sandwich, with packaging that boasted that it was made fresh, and walked over to the small coffee machine. Even though I had just had a coffee not even an hour ago, I couldn't walk away from an opportunity to pick up more.

I paid for the food, and winced as I saw that I had already spent over $5 on just arguable quality food. The food didn't taste too bad, however I wasn't sure whether it was because I was so hungry that I reckoned anything would've tasted fine, or whether it was actually that good.

I pulled into work's parking lot with five minutes left to spare, which I realised I was glad for as it gave me a few minutes to touch up my make up with my phone camera. I reapplied lipstick as it had become smudged when I ate, and turned off the ignition. Smoothing down my blazer and skirt, I walked into the Ralph Lauren reception.

"Rachel Green," I said to the receptionist, flashing my company ID tag. She pushed a button, and I walked through the double doors, in search of the elevator that would take me to the floor of my office.

My assistant, Beatrice, was already sitting at the desk that was directly opposite my own. "Hi, Rachel!" she said, sounding like her usual jolly self.

"Hey, Beatrice!" I replied. "How are you this morning?"

"Good," she nodded, as she shuffled some papers that were on the desk. "What about you and the rest of the family?"

"They're doing pretty good," I replied. Beatrice had always been surprisingly polite to me given her position in the job, and I had greatly appreciated it, after not wanting to take after my previous employers in past jobs and how they had treated people like her.

As a result, we had both taken an interest in what happened in each other's lives. I knew that she had been an only child, but had recently moved in with her boyfriend and that they were looking to start a family. She and her parents had also moved over here from Scotland, when she was elementary school age, had pursued a passion in art and design in college since.

Beatrice, on the other hand, knew that I had Ross as my husband, and two biological children and one step son. She knew that I used to live with Monica, until she moved in with Chandler, and I went to live with Phoebe and Joey at first, before settling in with Ross in his apartment. We then, of course, moved out when Mon and Chandler left with the twins to be closer to them.

Having someone that I was genuinely friendly with working with me definitely made the job much easier, especially on the days where all I'll be doing is answering invoices that are incorrect for various different reasons. She had been working with me for just over a year, which is only a few months off when I had been offered the job upgrade of becoming one of the most important design managers within the company.

I hadn't shared the news about Judy with Beatrice yet. I didn't think that Ross would necessarily appreciate it, and it hadn't yet seemed to have been appropriate to include in conversation. Both Ross and I were happy to keep the news between the families at this point, as I understood was also the case with Chandler and Monica. We all hoped that everything would work out for them, including Jack, who must be among one of those worst hit by the news.

I understood that Ross had been visiting Judy with Monica, and had asked if I and the girls might join him. I had agreed, knowing that Lara and Emma would want to see their grandmother, especially Emma as Judy had been particularly involved in her care as a young child. A visit had actually been scheduled for some point next week, when Ben has landed, as we wanted him to be included as much as possible, as he was rarely around due to college.

The rest of the work day dragged quite a bit, despite the fact that I still managed to get a considerable amount done in terms of actual jobs. I was very much glad when it was time for me to lock up the office, after wishing Beatrice a good evening. She had told me that her and her boyfriend had plans for dinner tonight, so I made sure that I said that I hoped it went well for them on my way out.

When I got back into the car, I remembered that I had agreed to start buying food for Thanksgiving and started to make my way to our usual grocery store. I was excited because Thanksgiving being so soon also meant that Black Friday was soon, and I couldn't wait to take the girls' out to celebrate all the deals on offer. I had already planned a mass shopping trip with them, and was hoping to potential rope in Mon with us, but also had a feeling that she would probably be too busy with Chandler and her own kids to join.

Luckily, I was able to make all the purchases I needed in the shop, and was able to pick up food for dinner whilst I was at it. The store had already started displaying their Black Friday deals, clearly trying to get an edge over their competitors, and it had been particularly hard to resist the temptation to take a closer look. I had managed to leave with nothing more than what we had actually needed though, so I considered it a success for me.

The drive home was pretty monotonous, and the songs played on the radio didn't make it any easier to bear. I wished for the thousandth time that I had agreed to pay for the Spotify family plan, than two individual memberships for Emma and Lara. Since Emma had become a junior in High School, I had insisted that she pay for her membership, as she could apparently get some kind of discount, and I generally wanted her to start taking more responsibility for her finances for when she was living fully independently.

When I pulled into the driveway, I could already see that Ross's car was parked. He must have been able to get off work early, as it had only just turned six. I had been out longer than I would usually be, as it would usually be me home first. I opened the door, struggling slightly with the two bags that I was holding.

Emma was standing in the hallway. She walked over when she saw me and offered to take one of the bags from me. "Thank you so much," I said, heaving a huge sigh of thankful relief.

Between Emma and I, we were able to get all the bags in pretty quickly. Lara was sitting in the kitchen at the table, with a speaker playing some kind of acoustic ballad and what looked like study stuff spread out in front of her.

"Hey, Mom," she said, looking up, with a highlighter in her hand. "You're home late," she added.

"I had to go get food for Thanksgiving because we've got Ben coming, if you remember," I said, not realising how defensive I sounded until Lara and Emma were both eyeing me as if they were unsure exactly of quite what they had done wrong.

"Oh, come of it!" I said, in direct response to their looks. "I just thought it was pretty obvious what I was doing."

Lara shrugged, but Emma started helping me to put away all the food in their allocated areas. It became very evident to me just how much we had had to buy, when it covered all of the countertop along one side, and the vast majority of the empty space on the table. Still, you had to do what you had to when it came to family, it wasn't too much of a dent into the family allowance.

"Thank you so much again," I said to Emma, as she started to make her way upstairs to her room.

"No problem, Mom," she said, as she shut the door.

I turned to Lara and started walking to sit down beside her at the table. I was able to see that the topic she was studying was Photography, as she seemed to be making some kind of mood board or portfolio type of thing. She had a couple of mini stacks of photographs, and appeared to be trying to figure out the best place to put them on the A3 sheet of card she was writing upon.

"What are you doing?" I asked, even though I already had a good idea just because I thought it would make more sense if she told me in full.

"It's the beginnings of a portfolio that we have to create for Photography," Lara explained. "We could choose any theme, and I chose 'Stolen Moments', which have ended up being predominantly nature shots that I particularly like."

"What a good idea!" I exclaimed, hoping that this would be encouraging for her as I genuinely liked what she had done so far.

Lara started leafing through one of the stacks of photographs, and carefully removed it from the pile to show me. It was one of the sky, just before the sunset, in one of the fleeting moments where the sky is made up of light purples and softer pinks. "This shot is absolutely breath-taking," I say, and watch Lara's face light up with pride.

I smile back at her, genuinely in awe of my daughter's immense talent. "You've got to show Dad," I said, standing up as I had remembered that it was late and I really needed to start cooking dinner.

"He's already seen it," Lara said. "And even he seemed impressed, because we know what he's like with subjects that aren't Palaeontology or in any way academic."

I nodded in agreement. I must say that I hadn't approved of his disapproval when both Emma and Lara had chosen to study subjects that weren't traditionally academic. It didn't set the most supportive impression, and I could see very much how it could be interpreted as if he thought that they were dumbing themselves down.

I personally thought they both had talents in the arts, and that they should seize any chance they could get to hone such craft. Thankfully, Ross had definitely started to become more supportive of them both, and I could tell that it was noticed and appreciated by both girls. It also reminded me that Ross could change even when he was set in beliefs that seemed like he would never be open-minded over, and that he still had the heart that I fell in love with.

A/N: Before I go, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 10 – Ross

I sat opposite Rachel, as we drank coffee together at the table. She was scrolling through her phone and I was reading the latest issue of my favourite Palaeontology magazine. Emma and Lara had already left the table after breakfast, hopefully to go study as it was the weekend and I knew that finals were coming up soon so I wanted them to do well as a professor myself and as a loving, supportive father.

"Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving?" I asked Rachel.

She nodded. "It's always a nice time to be together with family," she said. "Especially since we have Ben this year," she added, with a smile. She was as excited to have him as I was, as she knew how much seeing him meant to me, to Emma and especially to Mom and Dad. I was really hoping that we would be able to make a whole family visit to see Mom whilst he was here, as it felt long overdue since she had been admitted.

I smiled. "Thank you so much for agreeing to have him on such short notice," I said, really hoping that how sincerely grateful I was would be conveyed through my tone. "It means a lot to the both of us."

"I know," she said, returning my smile. "I would do anything to make any member of my family happy, because you know it makes my day when it's successful."

I nod. It was moments like this that reminded me why I finally chose to marry Rachel for good, because she was a genuinely sweet, supportive and kind-hearted wife and mother. Even if we had almost complete opposite parenting techniques, we always found a way to make things work, and I couldn't have asked for anything better. We really could be a dream team when we wanted to be.

"Do you want me to help clear away the plates for dinner?" I asked Rachel, just as my phone started to ring. "I'm so sorry babe, but I better go get that," I said, feeling flustered but also curious about who would be calling me at such a random time in the morning and on a weekend.

The caller ID on my phone screen told me that it was Monica, and I started speed walking out of the kitchen and through to the living room. Closing the living room door behind me and getting comfortable on the couch, I started talking.

"What's up, Mon?" I asked, a sinking feeling in my stomach as I was now convinced that it had to be something bad. "Is everything okay over there?"

"Yeah," she replied, as if she was completely calm. I had a suspicion that this was part of an act, and was determined to get to the bottom of it. "I just went to visit Mom yesterday, and was desperate to talk to you about it."

"Okay then," I said, still feeling uneasy as she still hadn't convinced me that there wasn't something to be worried about.

"She hasn't started to go drastically downhill already?" I asked after a long pause. As much as I didn't want to ask because it was like allowing the reality of the situation to continue to hold me to ransom, I would regret not asking because it meant that the days were limited and I would have to rethink what we did before it was too late to act.

"No, no, she's still very much stable," Mon replied, and I heaved a massive sigh of relief. That lightened the load a little, albeit not by much, but enough to make me feel a little less smothered. "It's just more to do with her attitude."

I rolled my eyes, even though I knew Mon couldn't see me. Even though Mon hadn't even told me the whole story yet, it still annoyed me that Mom couldn't be the least bit respectful towards her, especially given the emotional baggage that we were all weighed down by as a result of the situation. "That's bullshit," I said, not even considering how using strong language might sound.

"I know," Mon said, her tone quieter and more subdued than it had been, but also sounding as if someone finally understood where she was coming from. "If she doesn't want me to visit her, then quite frankly both Chandler and I have much better and more important things to do with our lives than try and please someone as ungrateful as she is."

I could tell from her bitter tone that she was trying to sound as if she didn't care about the situation or Mom, but I know that she did. And also that she didn't just care, but actually cared very much more than she was allowing people to let on. "I can see why you would feel like that," I said, hoping that she would feel supported, or at least listened to by me saying this.

"She asked after you," Mon said, catching me completely off guard. "Like, where you were," she added, explaining herself, even though I had known what she had meant the first time.

"I was at work," I said, my hackles starting to rise because I had a feeling I knew exactly where this conversation was going. "Did you tell her that?"

I was absolutely livid that Mom had the nerve to be that ungrateful towards Mon, when she was only trying to be of help and comfort towards her, and quite rightly so had better things that she could've been spending her time on.

"I did," Mon said, the subdued tone returning to her voice. "Her response was asking me why I wasn't at work."

I could feel my face getting hot as I processed what I just heard. How the hell did Mom think it was okay to as her something like that? Not only was it rude when someone to have gone out of their way to pay you a visit, she should also know that Mon had been upgraded to the manager at Javu's and it was clear that she hadn't wanted to pay attention to memorising that. Whilst the argument that her memory was getting worse as she could got older could be validly justified in this situation, I knew that she had taken the time to memorise my job and other information about me that she should know without hesitation and was simply purposely being an ass to Mon.

"I'm sorry," I said, not feeling at all sorry for what I was about to say in the slightest, "but what a fucking bitch."

"Thanks," I heard Mon say.

"You don't need to thank me," I said, still reeling from what Mom had done to her. "She had no right to treat you like that!" I took a deep breath in, as an attempt to compose myself enough to be able to hear the rest of what Mon had to say. "What happened after that?" I prompted, hoping that she was still okay with talking about it.

"One of Mom's nurses offered to go get us coffee, and came back with Dad," Mon said, still sounding no happier, which made me wish more than anything that I could hug her in that moment, and reassure her that I was going to be with her every step through this terrible journey as her adoring brother.

"How was that?" I asked, hoping for Monica's sake that the story would pick up and end up being a little happier.

"Dad was an angel as he always is," Mon said, and I couldn't help but grin at the fact that Dad had basically come to her rescue. "But I couldn't help but feel like I wanted to completely break down and run and hide when he and Mom started catching up with each other."

I was about to reply when Mon continued. "Even though they may not always be the nicest people ever, they are still a completely perfect match for each other and I can't comprehend how Dad is going to cope with her not being around," she said, voicing what I had already suspected was the case in this situation.

"I know, Mon," I said, my heart-breaking now not only just for Mon, but for Mom and Dad again as well. I wondered for the millionth time how the hell families in situations like this end up being able to carry on with their lives and be truly happy again after such a tragic event. "I know."

"Ross," Mon asked, in a tone sounded scarily like a small child desperate to be reassured by their parents. "Will Mom and Dad be okay? Will you be okay? Will all the kids be okay?"

At this tirade of questions, I knew that she was panicking and it would take much more than I was probably going to be able to do for her to reassure her. Rather than wallowing in my own helplessness, I decided that attempting to help her would be better than not doing anything at all. "I'm sure we will find a way," I said, praying for my tone to reassure her.

"Okay," she said, so quiet I almost couldn't hear her, with the same childish tone that she had used before.

I was desperate to stay on the call with her, but I couldn't think of anything else that I could do to try and comfort her. "Mon, I think I'm going to have to go," I said, immediately regretting it. "I'll talk to you again soon."

"Okay," she said, still sounding subdued. "Talk soon, then."

I hung off, as the feeling of regret rose higher in my stomach. Trying my best to ignore it, I walked back through to the kitchen, hoping that Rachel would still be there. She was just putting down the towel that she had been using as I walked in.

"Hey," I said, creeping up from behind and hugging her.

"Hey," she said, as she turned to look at me with a smile. "How was the call? Who was it?"

She must have noticed my expression change when she mentioned the call because she started to look concerned. "Is everything okay?" Rachel asked, eyes wide with concern and fear.

When I didn't immediately nod or shake my head in answer, she seemed to realise that the situation was much more complex than first thought. I started thinking through what would be the best way to word my answer, and eventually decided to just be completely frank and honest with her.

"Mon went to visit Mom yesterday," I started to say as Rachel's expression turned to one of confusion, which I assumed was because she thought that visiting Mom would be in some way even the slightest bit comforting and not as completely negative as I was making out to be, "but unfortunately Mom had to turn round and be a complete arsehole to her."

Rachel's expression turned to one of anger, which was oddly comforting because she clearly still cared deeply for her best friend. "I know," I said, in answer to the silence that preceded.

"What the hell does that woman think she's doing?" Rachel said loudly, gesturing passionately to emphasise how appalled she looked. "Monica fucking went to see her, and this is the kind of bullshit response she gets!" she said after I explained exactly what had been said.

"I can't believe it either," I said, shaking my head in disbelief as I spoke. I couldn't believe it myself that Mom would have the nerve to treat Mon this way because, even though they hadn't always had the best relationship with each other, being in this kind of situation called for some kind of attempt to change on both of their parts, not just Mon's.

"You should say something," Rachel said, clearly without thinking about what she was saying at all. "Confront that woman and tell her what a dick she's being to her own goddamn daughter and how this has got to change right now because she doesn't have that much longer to change her ways before it's too late."

A lump formed in my throat as Rachel spoke. Even though she was speaking the blatant truth that really needed to be acknowledged, there was no sign of any damage control being enforced any time soon. I didn't want to think about the situation, but there was no way that we couldn't.

"You're right," I said, realising that that was probably one of the only times that I would ever admit when I was wrong in my life, but feeling no urge to make a comment on it as I might've done under different circumstances.

"Well, that's the first time I've heard that in god knows how long!" Rachel said, laughing in surprise. She looked back at me and saw that I wasn't feeling her humoured mood, and her eyebrows furrowed. "Back to serious talk now," she said, her expression changing back to stern and thoughtful. "Are you going to speak to your Dad?" she asked after a couple of moments of silence.

I hesitated, and Rachel gave me an expectant look. I could tell that she wasn't going to stop until I agreed to do something, and so I nodded. "Sure," I said, trying to persuade Rachel satisfactorily that I would get in touch with Dad to let him know the full extent of his wife's inexplicable and completely unfair behaviour towards her daughter.

"Good," Rachel said, grinning widely. She looked so pleased with herself, and I wanted nothing more than to wipe it off her face until I remembered that there was more important things to deal with right now than salvage what was left of my pride.

A/N: And here we are at the end of yet another chapter! This is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 11 – Ben

"Have you told either of your Moms' yet about Thanksgiving?" Kyle asked me from where he was lying on the bed on his die of our dorm.

"Nope," I said, shaking my head. "I won't be letting them know until I'm at Dad's so it would be too late for them to try and stop me." I was pretty proud of this idea, but judging by Kyle's current expression, he didn't agree.

"Surely your Dad would let them know before you get there, though?" he said, one eyebrow raised as if he didn't believe my plan would have any chance.

"I specifically told Dad not to," I responded, but even I wasn't entirely convinced that Dad would keep his end of the bargain.

Kyle continued to eye me critically, as if he could tell that I wasn't entirely convinced by my own answer. I knew that Dad was strict and responsible when he needed to be, and so probably would have told them anyway, but I was still trying to cling onto the shred of hope that he hadn't mentioned anything to them. I had deliberately tried to avoid all contact with either Mom, because I knew that my Thanksgiving plans would come up in conversation if I did. Kyle had started to voice his thoughts towards to my plans more and more the closer we got to the end of the week, but I had just been trying to ignore it and continue on with sticking to my decision.

It was Wednesday, and I had my first final before Thanksgiving tomorrow, and then the rest in the coming weeks. Kyle and I had both been trying to cram in as much revision as we could, whilst also making sure that we packed our stuff ready for the weekend. I was leaving tomorrow evening, as the college had allowed students who had to fly out to see their family and finished all their exams tomorrow to leave the campus Thursday evening rather than on Friday.

I'd been keeping Dad as up-to-date as he needed to be, and the realisation that I was much more excited to see everyone at home than I had initially thought had hit. It had been far too long since I had last seen both Emma and Lara, and so it was going to nice to see them again. Dad had said that there was definitely going to be an opportunity to visit my Grandmother, which of course I was grateful for, and also to see Aunt Monica and Uncle Chandler and the cousins again hopefully, but he still wasn't entirely sure whether they would be too busy to see us or not.

Wanting to change the subject so I didn't continue to doubt trusting Dad, I asked Kyle whether he would do some revision knowledge tests with me for tomorrow.

"Sure," he said, sifting through the many piles of notes and other various study related items strewn all over his bed. "Any particular topic?"

I just shrugged because I honestly didn't care as long as it distracted me. Kyle ended up choosing one about businesses and interest, and started firing off questions at me.

I was surprised by how much I managed to remember, and started to feel even more confident than I had initially about the actual exam. After about half an hour, we switched and I took a turn at asking the questions. Kyle also did pretty well, which pleased me as a supportive friend. The many hours that we had already started to sacrifice for revising and studying were really paying off, and so it was nice to tick this off what was going to be a very busy schedule for me over the next few days.

Clearly we hadn't been keeping an eye on the time very well as I realised, when I looked down at my watch, that it was almost 5 o'clock in the evening already by the time we finally decoded to call it a day on studying. "Do you want to go get food or wait a little longer?" I asked Kyle.

I was craving a McDonald's and there was one on-site and so the only thing stopping me would be if Kyle didn't want to get something as well. "What were you thinking of getting?" Kyle asked.

"McDonalds," I said, mentally attempting to will Kyle into also wanting it.

Kyle shrugged. "I don't see why not," he said, sounding indifferent.

"Okay then," I said, trying not to sound too excited as I grabbed a jacket because it was starting to cool down even in California, which had been a shock at first but not too surprising since I had come from New York, which almost always got colder weather annually in the fall and winter months.

Kyle was already wearing a sweater, so we both started to make our way out of the dorm building and into the main campus. We found the food court pretty quickly, which I was particularly glad of given the weather and the fact that my jacket was still better suited to hotter weather, as that is the kind of weather I had anticipated when packing. I made the same mistake every year of packing warmer clothes than I would need for about half the academic year, despite this being my third year in college as a junior.

The queue in McDonald's for food was surprisingly short, given the time of day. Kyle and I both seemed to put it down to the fact that the vast majority of students, generally unless they were freshmen, were studying and so food was not necessarily as much of a priority at this time of day.

Kyle and I ended up agreeing to split the money between us so we could pay for both meals together so whilst he went up to order, I embarked on a search for an empty table for us to sit at. I spotted an empty one in the far right hand corner of the restaurant area within the building along the back wall, and made my way over to sit and wait.

While I waited for Kyle, I scrolled absent-mindedly through Instagram. I saw that Emma had recently made a post, and double-tapped it. I tapped out of Instagram afterwards are loaded up Fortnite, just as Kyle bought over a tray stacked high with our food. I helped Kyle divide up the food between us as he sat down.

"I didn't know how much I needed this until right now," Kyle said, looking like he was in heaven as he took a bite from his burger.

"Me neither," I said, dipping a fry into my chocolate milkshake. Kyle scrunched up his nose in disgust as he looked on, so I shrugged indifferently because I couldn't resist the opportunity to be annoying.

"Perfect way to kick off Thanksgiving weekend, right?" I added, feeling another wave of excitement as it started to dawn on me again that I would be on my way to see some of my family in less than 48 hours.

Kyle nodded in agreement. He must have been attempting to seek revenge for the fact that I could be so calm and unfazed by a food combination crime like fries and chocolate milkshake because I noticed his hand sneaking towards my chicken nuggets.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, swatting away his hand before it managed to get inside the container. "Buy your own!"

"That's what you get for being a disgusting human being," he said, sounding revolted even just the mention of my food choices earlier.

I shot Kyle my best withering look. "Have you actually ever tried fries and chocolate milkshake together?" I asked him, with a strong feeling that I knew the answer already.

"No," he said, and then his expression seemed to change as he realised what I was trying to do. "Now you're going to hit me with the 'you don't know you hate it until you've tried it' bullshit,' aren't you?" he asked, his tone serious but his expression was one that was trying in vain to hide his growing amusement.

I looked at him, eyebrows raised. I was alarmed to realise that I was also now struggling not to laugh, but in my attempts to stifle it, I managed to let out a noise that sounded somewhere between a laugh and a hamster squeak.

Kyle immediately looked up at me, his expressions full of bewildered amusement. "What the hell was that?" he asked, now quite clearly struggling not to crack up.

I shrugged, equally as amused by my reaction. "I have no clue," I said, aware that if I said anything else, it would end up coming out as a fit of laughter.

"I wish I'd filmed that," Kyle added as an afterthought. I shot him a glare just to let him know that under no circumstance would I be okay with that so he should take his fantasy far away from me. He seemed to get the message.

We finished eating in silence, and didn't talk again until we were en route back to the dorms.

"Do you still need to pack for tomorrow?" Kyle asked me.

"Technically yes," I replied. "Though now it depends on what you were thinking of suggesting when you started talking."

"I was thinking that we should play a card game or something," Kyle said.

I didn't have to think twice about my answer. The competitive streak that ran in my Dad's side of the family had definitely been passed down to me, which Kyle had learnt early in our friendship. Luckily for me, Kyle also was a keen game player and so we had had a lot of fun together.

"You're on," I sad, as I pushed the main door to our dorm block open for Kyle.

When we got back into the room, I packed away my revision stuff as I had clearly forgotten to do it earlier. Kyle had also forgotten but soon turned his attention to searching for a pack of cards instead of packing away. When I was finally done, I joined Kyle on the carpet of our dorm to start playing.

Kyle decided to take turn in dishing out the cards as we had decided that one person would take the turn in dishing out cards and the other would get to pick which game we played. I chose poker, without money though as Kyle and I were very much broke in terms of having extra cash to just splash around whenever we felt like it.

"So long, sucker!" Kyle yelled as he won the first round, deliberately trying to goad me on.

I flashed him the classic Geller death stare in return, as he passed me his cards so I could start dealing them out. We both made sure that all the chips were in their correct piles, and I allowed Kyle to take the first go since it had been my turn to start last time as I hadn't been the dealer.

{A/N: Please bear in mind whilst reading this that I have no clue really how to play Poker, so if I've made a complete mess of the rules I apologise.}

This time I won by some miracle, so of course I had to bask in the glory of it, especially since Kyle was my opponent. "How does it feel to finally lose against me?" I asked, as I did have to admit that Kyle was a pro at the game in comparison to me.

"I'm finding it hilarious that you think you have any chance against me," Kyle said, his tone full of arrogance that buried under my skin and just made me want to compete with him even more.

"Rematch?" I asked, with a skilfully timed withering expression on my face.

"Is that even a question?" Kyle said, taking the cards that I passed to him so he could deal them out.

Whilst I waited, I started thinking over how many exciting plans I had for the next few days and just that life seemed really great at this point in time. It didn't even feel like that much of a negative that I had a final tomorrow, as it was understandably grossly outweighed by everything else. It would be so, so good to see the rest of the family again as I honestly didn't get to see them nearly as much as I wanted to, so I really had to savour the moment. Especially when it came to my grandmother, because I was very much aware from what Dad had said that she really didn't have an awful lot of time left, and we really had to make the best of every moment.

A/N: Here's the conclusion to yet another chapter! Again, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 12 – Ross

"So, the flight here was pretty smooth then," I said to Ben, who was drinking tea and scrolling through his phone across the table from me.

Ben looked up at me and nodded, just as the waitress who was bringing us our breakfast came over.

"Will that be all?" the waitress asked once she had put down the food on our table. I nodded and started to butter the toast that I'd ordered, as the waitress walked back away.

Ben and I had been at the café for a while now, as we had come almost immediately after Ben had got off the plane, since I had realised that there was probably quite a strong chance that he would be hungry and I'd only managed to have a very rushed breakfast with Rachel earlier. I had wanted to ask whether Ben had said anything to Susan or Carol just to let them he was alive, because even though we had agreed that I wasn't going to say anything, they both deserved to know their son was okay and safe, but I figured it wouldn't be the best thing to immediately ask as he would probably get pretty pissed with me.

"How's college going?" I asked, taking a sip of coffee.

"Pretty good," Ben replied. "I'm glad for the break though, because it's getting pretty intense."

I gave Ben an understanding look. As a professor and a former student myself, I could completely understand the level of pressure that was put on college students like Ben. I was unbelievably proud of him for being in a position where he could attend college, and knew that he worked so hard to get there and deserved it so much.

"I'm so proud of the fact that you've got through it so far, even so," I said, adding a smile that I hoped reinforced just how genuinely proud I was of my oldest kid.

Ben smiled back at me, clearly appreciating my encouragement. "How has life been around here?" he asked me.

I was caught off guard for a moment, hoping that he wouldn't expect me to talk about what was going on with Mom and Dad. Ben seemed to have realised what he had said and how we both knew it had been pretty tough recently from the apologetic look in his eyes as we made eye contact, which was a little more comforting as I realised that there was other stuff that I could talk about.

"We've been getting by," I said, realising that I was sounding sombre when I was attempting to sound more positive. "Lara ended up being in a class with Erica at high school, Emma is enjoying being in senior year at high school but she's also not too happy about the workload," I added, with a short chuckle. "So you two will already have something in common to talk about."

Ben nodded, but I was saw his expression light up as I mentioned Emma. As children they were every close and I had a distinct feeling that the mutual appreciation hadn't dwindled in the many years since. Lara, on the other hand, had been a little more reserved towards Ben, which was understandable as they weren't as close as the other two were. Nevertheless, I hoped that the weekend we were all spending together now would perhaps help them a little.

"I've actually really missed Emma," Ben said.

"She's been pretty enthusiastic about seeing you too," I replied, happiness about the prospect of how happy they would both be later starting to overflow inside me.

Rachel's Caller ID suddenly flashed up on my phone. "It's Rach," I said, getting up to walk out of the café to take the call.

"Hi, babe," I said, hoping that nothing was up and she was just hurrying me along to get back home.

"Hi," Rachel said, sounding a little flustered. "Where are you and Ben?"

"We're at a café getting breakfast," I said, hoping that this would be enough for Rachel to understand why we didn't just come home and not be too annoyed with me as I clearly had reasons for why we did this. "We'll be home soon," I added, hoping this might diffuse Rachel's frustrations to be a bit nicer towards me.

"You better be," Rachel replied, sounding more annoyed than flustered now. "I'm cooking lunch for you guys, and at this rate, you won't even be home for that."

"Yes, we will!" I said indignantly, letting the annoyance that had been building up spill over into my tone. "Have you even seen the time?" I added, looking down at my own watch and seeing that it wasn't even 11am yet.

"It's time you got your ass back here," Rachel said, clearly unwilling to drop the point she was trying to make.

"Babe, I'll talk to you later," I said, wanting to hang up to save my own sanity because Rach was seriously starting to get on my nerves and it was always best to let Rachel get over her own frustration by herself before trying to reason with her, as I had learned almost too late in our relationship.

"Whatever," Rach said, and the line went dead.

I walked back into the café after pocketing my phone, and sat back down with Ben.

"Is everything okay?" Ben asked, sounding a little concerned.

"Rach just wanted to know when we'd be back," I replied, and immediately saw Ben take a deep sigh of relief. It was really sweet to see how much he cared about his stepmom, even though they barely saw each other since he'd moved for college.

We spent about ten more minutes at the café before I decided that it was probably a good idea to get going if we were actually going to get home before midday.

"I hope it's okay with you that you'll be in the guest room," I said to Ben when we were in the car, as I couldn't remember whether I told him.

Ben nodded. "That's fine," he said, and I realised he probably didn't mind as much as I thought he would.

"Will we be seeing Aunt Monica or Uncle Chandler at all?" Ben asked, taking me off guard a little.

"I'm sure we could fit something in," I said not wanting to disappoint Ben, but also with the fact that I didn't know whether they would be too busy or even up to seeing him with all that was going on.

"I get that they have a lot going on, so if we don't, that's understandable," Ben added, as if he was reading my mind.

"Okay," I said, feeling a little bad as I knew he probably really did want to try and see all his family on my side whilst he was here, especially since college for him was so far from it all.

The rest of the journey ended up being pretty pleasant, probably in part because I was dreading having to face Rachel after our phone call, but at the same time I hoped the fact that we had a guest with us would mean that she wouldn't immediately try and bite my head off the minute I walked through the door.

When I had parked the car, I helped Ben move his stuff out of the car and into the room he was staying in. Emma helped us, and so left them catching up with each other to go and find Rachel, as it was probably best to face her sooner rather than later.

"So you're back," Rachel said as I walked into the kitchen, not looking up from where she was busy at the cooker.

"I am," I said, still feeling a little uneasy as I had expected a little more of a forward, confrontational greeting from her.

"And you're decently on time," Rachel added, taking a dish out of the oven and covering it with aluminium foil before putting it back into the oven, presumably to keep it warm.

I wanted to reply with something on the lines of 'so did you expect me not to be, then' but I knew that it would start an argument between us, and quite frankly, I had no time for that. Instead I offered to help her out, thinking that it would butter her up nicely against any onslaughts she was planning for later towards me.

I set the table and helped set out the dishes of food as they finished cooking. "Should I go let the kids know that lunch is done?" I asked Rachel, who nodded.

I went to Emma and Ben first, who were still in Ben's temporary room, fortunately for me. "Sure thing," Emma said when I told them. I had expected no less from them, as she was often the easier of her and her sister when it came to following rules and listening to me.

I walked up the stairs, bracing myself to be told to be attacked by Lara and have to fight her. Her bedroom door was slightly ajar, but I knocked anyway as I wasn't willing to take chances.

"Come in," she said, and I pushed the door open further as I walked in.

"Oh, it's you Dad," she said. She was sitting on her bed, her phone propped up against the Beats pill speaker that she had begged Rachel and I to buy for her on her last birthday.

"On FaceTime, are you?" I asked.

"Yeah," Lara replied, "and you're kind of interrupting us right now."

"Sorry," I said, throwing my hands up in surrender. "I just came to say that lunch is almost ready, so you may as well start wrapping up that conversation."

Lara rolled her eyes in protest, but otherwise seemed to get what I was saying. "Your brother is here by the way," I added, hoping that this would reinforce the importance of her showing up at lunch as it was common courtesy and I knew that she knew that.

"Okay, whatever," Lara said, and I left her bedroom, satisfied that that was the best reaction I was going to get from her.

When I got back to the kitchen, I was pleasantly surprised to already see Emma and Ben sitting at the table.

"These two are actual angel children," Rachel said, as she bought the last few things that she needed for lunch to the table.

"Well, they are compared to their sister," I said, and then felt a little bad for comparing them against Lara, although they had been acting considerably more politely than she had.

Emma laughed, even though Ben looked a little shocked that we would talk about Lara in the way that we did so freely. "They're both great," I said to Ben, hoping that this would reassure Ben that we weren't as terrible parents as he may have thought after my comment.

The kitchen door flew open, and Lara walked in. "Yo fam," she said, as she walked straight towards her usual seat at the table.

I rolled my eyes, embarrassed by Lara's lack of manners, but decided that attempting to reprimand her wasn't going to make the situation any better in this moment. Rachel and I both sat down, and Rachel thanked Ben for being with us this for Thanksgiving break, and officially announced that lunch had begun.

A/N: Major apologies if this chapter has been as shitty as I think it is, but here is the usual me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 13 – Ben

{A/N: I just want to say that you guys should assume that this chapter is on the day before the visit to see Judy and Jack Geller by Monica and Chandler's for chronological reasons as Ben arrives home on the Friday of Thanksgiving weekend, and then they visit the Geller's on the Saturday to assume that Thanksgiving is on the Sunday.}

"Kids, can you get into the car please!" I heard from down the hallway. I saw that it had been Dad who had called, and I started to walk out the door assuming that he was referring to me as well as Lara and Emma.

Emma was already standing outside, and seemed to have just finished a call with someone as she took her phone from her ear when she saw me. "Oh, hey Ben," she said, as she walked to stand next to me.

"Hey," I said. "Good call?"

"Yeah," Emma said, as I noticed that she was looking particularly pleased with herself.

"Was it a boyfriend or something?" I asked, hoping that she wouldn't interpret my sibling curiosity as an opportunity to tease her.

"Yep," Emma answered, a smug expression emerging.

"Good for you," I said, trying to make sure that it sounded like I was genuinely happy for her, because I really was as I still cared deeply for Emma, even though we never really saw each other anymore. She was the only sibling that I had for so long that she will always have a particularly special place in my heart.

We both got into the car, me in the middle seat with Emma on the left of me. Lara would sit on the right, even though I had a strong feeling that we would end up regretting it when we were all squished together with very little personal space.

Whilst we were waiting for Rachel, Dad and Lara to join us, I decided to scroll through my feed on Facebook to see what Kyle and the others had got up to since we had gone our separate ways for the weekend. Kyle had updated his status yesterday, with something about how grateful he was to be back with his family along with how much he had missed his hometown.

I decided myself to make a post, saying that I was also glad to be home with the family and that I also wished everyone a good Thanksgiving weekend. Not soon after I had sent the post, the others joined us in the car and Dad started backing out of the garage and onto the main road so we could begin our journey to the hospital.

I wasn't quite sure exactly how I was feeling about seeing my Grandparents for the first time in so long, especially given the situation. On the one hand, I knew that they would love to see me as I knew that they probably saw me least out of all their grandchildren and I was the oldest, so I was their first. But on the other hand, I understood that this might be one of the last times that I would ever see them together, as everyone knew that our Grandmother had a limited amount of days left. I had always thought of them living happily together far into old age, and so it was truly heartbreaking to even attempt to imagine that it wouldn't be the reality.

I knew that I wouldn't be alone in how I felt about the situation, but somehow the thought of that didn't make the feeling of despair that had washed over me the more I thought about it any easier to stomach. To be honest, if it was a difficult prospect for me to handle, then I couldn't imagine how Dad and my Grandfather were coping with it. I was even worried about my Aunt Monica because, as the daughter, she would be in a very similar position as Dad.

I didn't talk much to any of the others during the journey and in fact no one really talked much until we had found a spot in the hospital parking lot and we were planning on going in. When the other two girls and I got out of the car, I realised that my legs were incredibly glad to be able for the chance to be able to stretch after being pretty stuck in the cramped back of the car.

"Let's get going," Dad said, instructing us to follow him across the parking lot through to the hospital reception.

We didn't have to wait too long before we were directed to go down a couple of corridors until we found the ward that we wanted. We were led down the ward by a nurse that I assumed must work here until we came to a door that the nurse said was our Grandmother's.

Dad pushed open the door, and we all followed him in. I saw that my Grandfather was sitting in a plastic chair beside my Grandmother's hospital bed. Both their facial expressions lit up when they realised that we were here.

"This is so nice to see all of you! And Ben too!" my Grandfather exclaimed, as he stood up from the chair and hugged us all in turn.

When he stopped in front of me, he said, "It's so good to finally see you again, as I know you're very busy all the way in California but your old Grandfather misses you!"

"I couldn't agree more," I said, as we hugged. He smelt like coffee and cigars, which was comforting as it bought back a plethora of happy childhood memories and many, many hugs.

When he pulled away, he gave me a small simile and I saw in his eyes that he was genuinely overwhelmed with happiness that he was finally seeing me again. I was almost overwhelmed in that moment at realising just how much I longed for my childhood days where everything seemed so much simpler and when both he and my Grandmother seemed always around, and we were always doing something fun together.

When my Grandfather turned his attention to a conversation with Dad, I went to sit on the edge of my Grandmother's bed to join the conversation that Lara and Emma were having with her, whilst a nurse worked around them.

"What's new in your life, Ben?" our Grandmother asked me after she had finished hearing from Emma about her boyfriend.

"Honestly not that much," I replied, suddenly feeling as if my life was pretty boring.

"No girlfriends or anything?" our Grandmother said, clearly trying to tease me.

"Nope," I shrugged, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible and not rise to the bait. Regardless, I found it mostly endearing that she was trying to lighten the mood in what could be an incredibly difficult and awkward conversation, given the severity of everything going on.

"Your time will come," our Grandmother replied, clearly getting the impression that I wasn't going to want to talk much more about it.

I nodded.

"Have you had much room service and stuff?" Lara asked. "And, like, is the food here actually good because most hospital food is crap, and that's a fact."

Our Grandmother chuckled before answering. "Well, with the room service I've been incredibly lucky to have both your Grandfather and many nurses to assume that role for me," she said. "In terms of the quality of the food here, it's not like top restaurant quality but it isn't horrible either."

"Lucky!" Lara exclaimed.

"Have you ever had to stay in hospital before?" our Grandmother asked Lara.

"There was one time when I accidentally fell into the bannister on our staircase and had to get stitches at the ER," Lara answered. "The food was worse than what I would even assume prison food to be like."

"That's so melodramatic of you, Lara!" Emma said, not sounding pleased with Lara at all.

"Excuse, what do you know about being melodramatic?" Lara said, indignantly.

"Well, I do know that you are a pro at it," Emma replied. "So I think we both know enough about it to judge whether you are acting that way or not."

"I'm staying out of this," I surrendered, trying not to let the fact that I was finding this little argument hilarious, but had to also dodge making eye contact with our Grandmother, as she was also finding this just as hilarious as I was.

Dad came over, probably to share his own opinion on the situation. "Lara, Emma," he started saying. "Do you really think that your Grandmother wants to hear you two arguing?"

They both looked at him innocently, and he gave them a withering look but changed the subject. "How are you feeling, Mom?" he asked.

"Pretty good, Ross," she replied. "Thanks for asking."

"You're very welcome," Dad replied. "I hope you're at least mostly enjoying the fact that we're all here."

"It certainly makes a pleasant change from most days where most of my visitors are either various people from the hospital or your father," our Grandmother replied. "Not saying that I don't like spending time with your father – I just wish that I was able to see the rest of the family more often, especially since everything that's been going on."

"Well, we're only too happy to come here," Dad said, even though I could tell that it wasn't entirely true, because as much as it was nice to be able to see both of them here, even just being around so much to do with hospitals felt like a painful stab in the gut that there would be a last visit at some time, probably much sooner than any of us wanted.

"Have you seen much of Monica and her lot?" Dad asked. "I just knew that they had plans to visit at some point."

"You're Dad told me that Monica and Chandler mentioned something about coming to visit me on Thanksgiving but they didn't mention anything about bringing the kids," our Grandmother answered. "I hope that I get to see them at some point before it's too late."

"I do too," Dad said, sounding as if it pained him ever so slightly to admit how he was feeling in that moment.

"It's nice to know that even when things are hard, you and Monica are still willing to support your father and I," our Grandmother said. "It's not lost on us."

"I'm glad," Dad said, smiling weakly, as if he was toying between sadness and happiness in the moment.

I looked at Emma, who was clearly trying her best to smile, and did the same. Rachel came over to join us as she had been talking to our Grandfather, but now he had started having a conversation with one of the nurses and Rachel was here with us.

"What have I missed?" Mom asked, shuffling until she was comfortable in her position in one of the plastic chairs.

"Just Lara and Emma arguing," Dad replied, deliberately ignoring Emma and Lara's glares that they shot at him as he continued talking, "so not much at all."

"Whilst I'm glad that you two seem to have resolved whatever you were arguing about," Mom started saying, shooting disapproving looks Lara and Emma's way, "I still need to remind you guys of the fact that there are appropriate times to argue, and now is not one of them."

Emma and Lara looked considerably more apologetic, as the reality of the fact that this might be one of our Grandmother's last memories of us seemed to sink in. I could particularly tell that none of us really were sure how to deal with the situation from the great cloud of vulnerability that hovered over us in that moment.

Just as I was getting desperate for someone to say something to lighten the mood and distract us, I heard the sound of someone's ringtone. I starting fumbling through my pockets in case it was mine, but stopped when I saw that Dad had answered, and I heard him mention the name Monica.

I saw Rachel give him a quizzical look, and he waved it off, ignoring Rachel's frustrated glare back at him. Rachel continued talking to me and the other two's Grandparents, and I listened, keeping an eye on Dad as I was just as curious as Rachel was to know why Aunt Monica was on the phone to him.

After a few minutes, Dad got up to presumably go somewhere a little quieter to talk, so I decided to follow him. I followed Dad until he got to the main entrance of the hospital, and then hid behind one of the pillars that flanked the entrance, but close enough to Dad to be able to hear him well enough.

"I'm there now," I heard Dad say, and knew immediately that my suspicion that it might have something to do with our visit was likely to be true.

There was quite a long period where I couldn't really hear anything as Dad was listening, where I also had to narrowly dodge random strangers who were either entering or leaving the hospital whilst also looking like it wasn't completely weird that I was just casually standing here and doing nothing.

"If you FaceTimed me, you could say hello to them," Dad said, snapping me out of the daze that I had fallen into whilst waiting for a further development in the conversation.

Dad nodded, and then started walking back towards the entrance, his phone at his side as he had clearly hung up on her presumably so that she could call him later. I realised in vain that there would be no way that I could get myself back into the hospital without Dad spotting me, so I walked out from behind my makeshift hiding spot.

Dad looked shocked at first, but then his expression turned to a look that seemed to be somewhere between confusion and amusement. Just as he looked as if he was about to ask me what I had been doing, I decided to save him the hassle.

"I just came out here because I wanted to know what was going on with Aunt Monica," I said, as it seemed to click with Dad that that was a sufficient explanation.

Dad seemed to have read my mind in the moment, as I saw him open his mouth to presumably start explaining his phone call. "Mon just was just calling to make sure that I'm okay as we all know that she has a reputation for being slightly overprotective," he said. "And when I explained about the fact that we were here, she seemed to really want to speak to your Grandmother and Grandfather, so I said that she could FaceTime me and then they could speak to her that way."

"That's really sweet of you," I said, as Dad smiled.

"Let's go back to ward," Dad said, opening the double doors at the hospital entrance, and holding one open for me as I walked through and followed him back the way we came.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 14 – Emma

I looked up from the game that I had been playing with Lara and my Grandfather as Ben and Dad walked into the room.

"It was Mon on the phone," Dad explained, referring to the phone call that he had left the room for. "I told her to FaceTime us, so I hope that's okay just because she wanted to speak to you, Mom and Dad."

"Of course," my Grandfather said, hoisting himself off of the ward floor and taking up a seat at my Grandmother's bedside.

I heard the sound of a ringtone, and saw Dad tap his phone and then attempt to prop it up so that my Grandmother and the rest of us could see the screen.

"Hey guys!" Monica said from the phone, sounding cheerful.

"Hi Mon," Dad and my Grandmother said in unison, and everyone else followed.

"What's up?" Monica replied, still sounding cheerful.

"We're just here with the family," my Grandmother said, sounding happy.

"Awesome," Mon said. "I'm just getting ready to go out with Chandler."

"Oh, cool," Dad said. "Where are you guys going?"

"Just to the shops," Mon replied, sounding happy at the mention of what she was doing.

"Right up your street," Dad said, with a chuckle, as Mon gave him a classic Geller death stare.

I saw that my phone screen had lit up with a notification of a text from my boyfriend, and clicked on it to reply. Truth be told, there wasn't much that I wanted to say to Monica, and felt like my time would be better spent texting Robert than sitting bored whilst the rest of the family were talking to her.

It turns out that Robert had been left by his parents to look after his brothers and sister whilst they had gone out for lunch, and he was bored and would prefer to be with me. Honestly, I also was pretty desperate to be together again, but knew that there was no way that either of us would be able to get out of the situations we were in. Texting was the next best thing, we both decided.

I was glad that the others were so invested in their conversation with Monica that's they hadn't noticed that I had started to text, and so I was even considering my luck with being able to escape to call Robert.

I decided that it was now or never to attempt to leave to call Robert, and so I tried to get up off of the floor whilst making the least amount of noise or disruption possible. I managed to get to the door without anyone noticing, and then was able to walk down the ward corridor normally right to the outside of the hospital reception.

I accepted the call that had been flashing up on my screen whilst I had been walking, and I heard Robert's calming voice.

"Hey, babe," he said.

"Hey," I said, feeling a wave of happiness wash over me after the sombre atmosphere of the hospital room.

"I miss you so much," Robert replied, as I felt a little tug at my heartstrings as I realised that I really missed him so much too.

"I so wish I could be with you right now," I said to Robert, a wave of sadness washing over me.

"Me too," Robert replied, "but if I leave any of the monsters at home alone, they'll wreak havoc and I'll get the blame for it."

"Ah, the struggles," I said, with a sad sigh.

"I'm sure you can understand, being an older sister yourself," Robert said, sounding a little flustered.

"Yeah, yeah," I said, trying not to sound as disheartened as I felt. "Really don't worry about it."

"How are your family?" Robert asked, as if he genuinely cared about them but also wanted to change the subject fairly desperately.

"They're good, especially after everything," I replied. "How are the three terrors doing?"

Just as I had finished speaking, I heard the sound of a child talking in the background and then the sound of Robert telling them to shut the fuck up. "Sorry about that," Robert said, sounding a little frustrated. "I mean, I'm sure you can kind of gather from that how they are."

"So as annoying as ever," I said, with a little chuckle. I heard Robert chuckle too.

"Didn't you say that you had a brother or someone staying over at yours for Thanksgiving?" Robert asked.

"Oh, yeah," I replied. "Ben."

"How's he doing?" Robert asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Pretty good," I replied, realising that I was actually really concerned to be able to make sure that I made the best of Ben's visit before he left again for college.

"I always wanted an older sibling," Robert said longingly. "I definitely think that with having three younger brothers and a sister, it will take a lot to convince me to consider having children ever in the future."

I laughed, realising a second later that, from the slightly confused and shocked look from a woman walking into the hospital, it had been considerably louder than I had expected. I decided to dart behind one of the pillars flanking the entrance in a desperate attempt to regain some kind of dignity after that embarrassing moment.

"I'd better get going," I said, realising that if I spent much more time out here, I was sure to be found out. I was also feeling a little scarred from the interaction with the woman.

"Okay," Robert said, as I hung up and then started making my way back to my Grandmother's room on the ICU ward.

I managed to get to the door of her room without being noticed, but I was stuck hovering at the door, unsure whether I should risk going in or not. In the end I decide that it looks dodgier with me just standing out here not doing anything, so I push open the door, fully expecting to receive an onslaught when I enter.

Luckily, everyone still seemed invested enough in the video call not to notice me as I sat down in one of the free chairs. I must have sat there for about another fifteen minutes before Ben noticed.

"Oh, hey Emma," he said.

"Hey," I said, a little awkwardly, as I didn't know whether he had noticed that I'd left and I guess I was starting to feel pretty guilty about the whole thing.

"You don't need to worry about the fact that you left," Ben said, taking me completely off guard.

I felt myself blush, clearly caught in the act. "Are you sure?" I said, feeling awfully self-conscious.

"Pretty sure about it, yeah," Ben said. "I mean, like it could be the middle of the night right now outside, and I'm sure no one would even notice to care."

I laughed quietly at that, feeling a little better now it was clear I was out of the doghouse of any potential problems that Mom or Dad may have had about me leaving.

"How are you enjoying your time back here for the moment?" I asked Ben, trying to make friendly conversation now I was feeling a little more in the mood for it.

"I mean, it's not been too bad," Ben replied. I could tell that he desperately didn't want to come off as rude, but at the same time, this had been the most exciting thing in terms of trips that had happened since he had arrived, and I wasn't sure how much of this you could call particularly enjoyable, given the situation.

"I know Mom and Dad are busy with these guys," I said, gesturing to our Grandparents, "and Thanksgiving dinner, but I wish they would take us out on some kind of trip or something. It's just staying at home for the most of it, with this trip being basically the only time we get out of the house, it can't have been _that_ fun for you yet."

"It's fine with me," Ben said, though I could definitely sense that he shared my feelings of wanting something more involved and exciting going on.

A/N: So sorry again if you get bothered by the shorter chapters, I just am really running out of ideas to add to this segment of the story. Nevertheless, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 15 – Lara

"Wait, sorry," Aunt Monica said, as we saw her walk away from the camera to go and see what Chandler had wanted, as he had trying to get her attention in the background for a while before Monica had actually acknowledged him.

I turned to Dad. "When are we going to see them again?" I asked.

"I have no idea," Dad said, sounding a little frustrated with me asking.

I decided that it was best not to say anything else. Mom turned to Dad and started having a conversation that I couldn't quite hear, so I decided that it would be all right to go on my phone without it coming across as rude.

One of the nurses had kindly gave me the WiFi password shortly after we first arrived and I wanted to make use of it. I went on Snapchat and saw that one of mates had sent me a snap of something. I opened it and saw that it was just her showing me one of her relatives being adorable.

I replied with a snap of the hospital floor saying that I was stuck here and was low-key wishing I was anywhere but here, even with her.

I looked over at Ben and Emma who looked about as bored as I was. Mom and Dad were now talking to our Grandfather, as our Grandmother was having some routine care from a nurse who had just come into the room.

It had seemed that everyone, including me, had forgotten about the video call, as I jumped slightly when I heard Aunt Monica's voice, wondering initially where on earth the voice was coming from.

"Was everything all right there?" Mom asked Monica.

"Yeah," Mon replied, as the others gathered around Dad's phone screen again. "It was just Chandler wanting me to tell him where I wanted some groceries."

"Ah, the joys of adulting!" Dad said, sarcastically.

Monica laughed, even though we should probably be joking at the fact that Chandler would probably end up pretty dead if he tried to do anything like putting away groceries without Monica's instruction.

We talked for a while more, until Monica said she had to go, and that she wouldn't be able to talk more but wished us all a good rest of the day and said that she loved us all.

"We should probably get going ourselves," Dad said to our Grandparents. "I hope that's okay with you guys," he added.

"You're a busy family man," our Grandfather said. "It's absolutely fine, and you don't need to apologise."

Dad looked relieved even so, and I noticed that both Ben and Emma looked particularly happy with the prospect of leaving.

I walked out into the main ward with Ben and Emma after we had all said our goodbyes and hugged our Grandparents to wait for Dad and Mom to join us on our way out of the hospital to the parking lot. I made the best of the hospital WiFi during the few minutes that we ended up having to wait before disconnecting as we walked out finally into the parking lot.

Ben and Emma rushed ahead towards the car, clearly having some kind of sibling competition that I wasn't quite aware enough to participate in. Ben held open his car door for me to wedge my way into the middle, and then got in himself. Thankfully, it wasn't too squashed with this arrangement, as I was by far the lightest of the kids, also being the youngest.

The journey back to the house wasn't too scarring, as I had been anticipating with a family who didn't seem to understand how not to embarrass me. Dad had listened to Emma and I's protests against him hooking up his Spotify to the Bluetooth feature on the car radio, so we didn't have to hear Dad's painfully archaic music taste.

The minute I got through the front door of the house, I rushed upstairs to my room to finally be alone after an awful lot of human contact that I hadn't necessarily completely enjoyed or wanted.

I turned my TV on and logged into Netflix, intending on escaping into the world of Riverdale whilst I still could without being interrupted by the family.

I sent my Snapchat streaks and then turned my phone off and put it on charge. I searched on my bed for the fluffy blanket that I always kept on my bed for moments like this, and saw that I had clearly left it somewhere downstairs or left it down with the laundry and forgotten about it.

I started making my way back down the stairs, planning first to check the living room for my blanket and second in the laundry room.

None of the family were in the living room and neither was the blanket, but I took the time to straighten up some of the cushions as they were looking untidy and because that then gave it an ugly look. You could only access the laundry room through the kitchen as it was an en-suite room, even though I wasn't enthused by the idea of potentially being drawn into a conversation that then meant that I wouldn't be able to relax and have peace and quiet.

Begrudgingly, I pushed open the kitchen door and immediately caught of a whiff of what was almost definitely Thanksgiving dinner related food cooking. I saw that Mom was standing at the stove, with Dad fetching something out of the fridge.

"Has anyone seen my fuzzy blanket?" I asked to no one in particular.

"I don't remember putting it in with the laundry last wash," Mom said, as she turned round to make eye contact with me before turning back to the stove, wooden spoon clutched in one hand.

"Oh okay," I said, feeling more confused about where on earth the blanket could be. "Anyone else have any ideas?" I added, looking around the room to see that it wasn't just Dad and Mom in the room, but that Ben and Emma were also here, in the middle of some card game.

I walked over to where they were sitting. "Have either of you guys seen my fuzzy blanket?" I said, on guard for any clues that might lead to the possibility of Emma having stolen it or something in her facial expression.

"Sorry Lara, but I have not," Ben said, looking embarrassed that he couldn't have been any more help to me.

"Don't worry too much about it," I said, hoping that this would reassure him that I was fine with him not knowing, especially since he had only been back here for a couple of days and probably wouldn't even have seen the blanket before.

"Emma?" I said, looking directly at Emma with a raised eyebrow, as I was now pretty convinced that if anyone was going to be to blame here for the mysterious disappearance, it was almost definitely Emma.

"Yeah," she said, sounding surprised, with her set of cards fanned out in her hand as if she was about to place her next move in the game. "What do you want?"

"Have you seen my fuzzy blanket?" I asked, trying to keep how annoyed I felt about the fact that Emma clearly hadn't been paying attention to the situation at all out of my tone at least for the time being.

"No," she said, starting to sound a little annoyed as if I was accusing her of stealing it when she was convinced that she clearly hadn't.

"Well Mom, Dad and Ben haven't seen it so you are the only person left who could possibly know about it," I said, feeling myself bristle over how irritating and defensive Emma was being, despite being the older and more mature one out of the two of us. "Are you sure that you don't know where it is?"

"Yes!" Emma replied, now sounding indignant and disproportionately annoyed at my insistence to get an answer. "I have no fucking idea where your blanket is!"

I was so annoyed at this point that I didn't even care if she was telling the truth. I was now definitely convinced she was lying, but I just had to figure out how to get it out of her.

"Mom," I said, not even caring how desperate I sounded. I was just hoping that if I got Mom into the situation she would make Emma see that he had a guest, and it was just better to confess that she had the blanket rather than cause a scene that I'm sure Ben and everyone else could do very well without.

"Emma," Mom starting saying, sounding a little weary. "Did you or did you not take Lara's blanket?"

"I swear I didn't!" Emma said, her voice sounding closer to shouting now. "Fucking hell!"

"Language!" Mom exclaimed, as Emma shot her best 'are you fucking serious' glare.

"Bit rich coming from you," Emma said, scathingly. "Tell her Lara how you've been planning this whole thing to frame me!"

Mom and Dad both look my way, with looks on their faces that show that they are suspicious of me. Ben just looks really awkward as he's sitting with the game that he and Emma were playing, and I feel for him because if I was him, I knew that I would be reacting very much in the same way that he was.

"I swear she's just trying to bluff!" I said, shooting Emma the classic Geller stare of the death. "I literally don't know where it is! I just wanted to watch Netflix and get away from all of you, I swear down!"

I realise almost immediately after finishing talking that I probably could've left out the Netflix part in the way that I phrased it, but truth be told, I was too pissed off and stuck in the moment to stop and do something about it.

Emma was shaking her head as if she couldn't believe that I would try and do such a thing just to attempt to stir up drama. Mom and Dad were looking from one and another, as if they were trying to choose who to believe and overall what to do next about the situation.

Whilst I anxiously waited for the verdict to be reached, I made sure to give Emma a taste of my best insults. After a stand-off of death stares between the two of us, I hit her with a grand finale of Dad and Aunt Monica's classic way of giving the middle finger.

Just as I was about to react to Emma's newest look towards me, Dad cleared his throat as if he was about to start talking.

"Since neither of you can agree on who is at fault here over the blanket," he said, "the both of you are going to sit at this table," he tapped the kitchen table that was currently empty to emphasise his point, "until you can be upfront and honest with each other and your Mom and I as to who is the culprit."

I walked over to sit at the table as Dad had asked, shooting another death stare at Emma as she walked over begrudgingly to join me.

"You will sit here in silence, and if either Mom or I see any exchanges of looks or anything like that, you both will receive further punishment," Dad said, still in the same stern tone that he had used when he had first laid down the table sentence.

As hard as it was to resist the temptation to say something to attempt settle the disagreement and prove that Emma was the liar here, I managed to sit in silence at the table, watching Mom and Dad prep for dinner.

Emma, on the other hand, succeeded only until I caught her giving me dirty looks again and decided to say something, as there was no chance that, after all the hassle that had already been caused, she would get away with her behaviour.

I was filled with joy at the sight of Dad's angry expression, as he was clearly gearing up to tell her off.

"Emma!" Dad shouted, as she turned her position on the chair around to face him head on. "Really? Really though? You're the older one here, who could've just decided to rise above it and proven to me and your mother that you can handle this seriously in a wise and mature way, but you choose not to! Nice one!"

"Then tell me why, if you and Mom are so wise and mature yourselves, you still believe this liar here?" Emma said, not shouting but her scathing tone was more than enough to show that she was just as annoyed as Dad was.

"Well, most importantly, this 'liar' over actually seems to have taken responsibility for her actions by serving her punishment as your mother and I asked under the conditions that we all agreed on," Dad replied, his stern tone returning in place of a shout this time.

Emma rolled her eyes. "I'll have fun laughing at how gullible you two are as parents when you realise that I was right all along!"

I saw Dad and Mom look at each other, Dad as if he wanted to say something about what Emma had said and Mom like she thought it was a bad idea and would spark more arguments than necessary.

Emma started walking towards the door, clearly with the intention of escaping out, probably back up to her room to talk to her boyfriend.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dad asked her, sounding surprisingly pleasant in comparison with his frustrated facial expression.

"To go to my room," Emma said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"No you're not," Dad said, walking over to block Emma from leaving.

"Oh, and Lara," Emma said as she walked back over with Dad, her wrist held tight in his grip so she wouldn't attempt to run, "you can find that blanket thing of yours in my room. Thanks for the loan, by the way!"

I shot up from my seat at the table, and dashed over to Emma. Dad realised too slow that my intention was to try and fight her, so I got a headway by starting a catfight between her and I.

"Stop it, you bitch!" Emma yelled, narrowly missing slapping me round the face as she tried to keep up her side of the fight.

"No!" I said, stepping up my game and fighting her harder. "Not until you admit that I was right the while time and you were trying to frame me as the wrong one here!"

Just as I was about to take my next shot, I felt myself being grabbed around the waist and pulled away from Emma.

It wasn't until I had been forced to sit back at the table that I realised it had been Mom who had caught me. Dad had done the same to Emma, and was clearly not happy at all, whilst he and Mom talked passionately, not loud enough for either Emma or I to hear from where we were sat at the kitchen table.

I shot one last glare at Emma before Dad started talking, his tone eerily calm considering his body language suggested that he was anything but.

"Thank you for finally admitting that you we in the wrong, Emma," Dad said, shooting a look at Emma before continuing on, "but, to the both of you, your behaviour just now is completely unacceptable, and I'm sure Ben here, as the guest, doesn't appreciate it any more than we do! You are both teenagers, so why can't you just act your age?"

Particularly at this point, I felt like Emma had taken this whole argument much further than was necessary and it was well past the point of me genuinely caring about it. I just wanted my blanket back so I could watch Netflix in peace, for goodness' sake! Like how many times do I have to say it?

"I told her where the fucking blanket is, so I don't get why there is still a problem!" Emma moaned, as I sat there trying my hardest to resist the urge to full on slap her round the face.

"The problem is," Dad said, his voice raising with every syllable, "that you just weren't honest about it in the first place, and have wasted both your mother and I's time, as well as your sister's! Like, how is that even in the slightest bit fair?"

Emma shrugged. "You ask me," she replied, nonchalantly.

I could see that Dad was really struggling to hold his temper back from the fact that he was clenching and unclenching his hands to make fists, clearly trying to regain some kind of composure to deal with the situation.

Mom took over, clearly seeing that dad was going to be too angry to be able to have any chance of successfully settling this argument.

"Emma, you go upstairs and get the blanket to give back to Lara," Mom said, gesturing to the door so that Emma would know to go immediately. She flounced off, and then Mom continued talking when she was satisfied that Emma was going to do what she had been told to do. "Lara, you are going to continue sitting here and think of how childishly you behaved by engaging in trying to fight Emma rather than letting your father and I sort the situation diplomatically."

Emma came back into the kitchen after what had felt like at least a year, my blanket in her hand.

"Here you go," she said kindly enough, despite the fact that she still shoved the blanket my way a little too roughly for me to think that she was completely over her angst.

"Well done, Emma," Dad said, clearly still trying to reinforce just how childish the whole argument had been.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 16 – Rachel

"Can someone help me clear the table?" I called from the stove, where I was trying to manage all the Thanksgiving food and make sure that there were places where I would be able to dump the plates on the table.

Ben stood up immediately from the kitchen table that he had been sitting at with Emma, who was still in trouble for her actions towards Lara earlier this evening.

"You help Ben too," I prompted Emma, as I took a dish of stuffing out of the oven and put it on a spare slither of space on the stove.

I saw Emma roll her eyes as she stood up, but luckily she ended up choosing to help Ben and so I didn't have to walk away from the food and risk burning everything because I had to force Emma to lay the table.

When all the placemats, plates and cutlery had been arranged exactly as I wanted them to be, I started bringing the various dishes of food to the table.

"Can one of you go and let your sister and Dad know that food is ready?" I said, as I bought a china dish that was full of peas and sweetcorn to the table.

"Sure," Ben said, walking out of the kitchen and into the hallway to find Lara and Dad as I had asked him to.

"Emma," I said, as I bought across as a small dish of sausages to the table. "Can you help me move some of these dishes to the table?"

Emma rolled her eyes once again, but obediently helped me move all the dishes to the table. I did one last spot check for the rest of the food to make sure I hadn't left anything in the oven or on top of the stove, and then walked over to the fridge, where I had been keeping a bottle of wine and a couple of bottles Coca Cola for Thanksgiving dinner.

I bought all three of the bottles to the table, and arranged them in the middle. Realising that no one had yet gotten any glasses, I walked over to the cupboards to find our fancy wine glasses, since they seemed an appropriate addition to the table for this occasion.

Finally satisfied that I had bought everything that needed to be at the table, I sat down in my usual seat at the dinner table. Emma joined me, searching her pocket for what I correctly assumed was her phone, and then she looked over at me, as she must have seen my slight reaction to her struggle to find it.

"What?" she said, her tone short. "Are you gonna ban my phone or something for what happened earlier?"

"No, you've already apologised and served your punishment so I'm ready to move on," I answered.

Emma put down her phone, now found, and placed it on the table beside her spot at the table. I wasn't entirely happy with her doing that, because of the risk of her going on it why we were eating or just generally using it as a reason to be antisocial. However, I had no intention of making any comment on it, as it would just cause unnecessary drama that I really didn't have the time or energy for.

Dinner was enjoyable and soon enough all the plates of food has been cleared. "Who wants dessert?" I asked, feeling like my stomach was about to burst because I was so full.

Only Lara and Ben seemed to want the ice cream and Mississippi mud pie I had saved for dessert, but nevertheless I decided it would still be a good idea to get it out, just because once the others saw it as I gave it to the other two, they would most likely want some too.

"Thank you so much for all of this," Ben said, as I passed him his serving of the pie and ice cream.

"You're very welcome, Ben," I said, as I sat back down at the table.

"Can I have some of the pie too, Mom?" Emma asked me, as I tried to hide my slightly exasperated expression as I had literally just sat down again, expecting that no one would want anything else.

I stood up and served Emma a slice of the pie and ice cream, and asked if anyone else would like any as I handed the bowl to Emma.

The general consensus was that nobody else wanted anything, so I was able to finally relax again.

One everyone had finished at the table, Ross and I washed up, as we agreed that sharing the load between us was not only fairer, but also would get the job done quicker, which sounded especially good because after all the events of the day, I was more than ready to go to bed and start properly relaxing and unwinding from the day.

When the both of us had washed up, I looked at Ross and said, "Should it be me or you who goes to make sure the kids are doing okay?"

"I don't mind," Ross says, initially. He then stops and seems to think about it a little longer. "I'll go so you can put your feet up," he concludes.

I double-checked the sink once more to check that I had move the drying towel away from the still-wet sideboard, and then when I was happy that I had put it away where I thought I had, I started to make my way upstairs to Ross and I's bedroom.

Just as I was shoving the duvet cover to the side so I could get into bed, I felt a sudden sharp stabbing pain in my stomach.

It was so strong that I started to feel a little dizzy, but I sat straight down on the bed, hoping that this would resolve whatever weird cramp I was experiencing. The pain was gone almost as soon as it came, and I settled down on the bed as I had first intended to, reading a copy of a health & lifestyle magazine that I had an annual subscription to.

I must have been reading for quite a while, because Ross came in, looking surprised that I was still up.

"What's the time?" I asked him, still feeling a little confused and disorientated.

"11.30pm," Ross replied. "I'm surprised you're still up, since you seemed so tired at dinner and when we were washing up."

It was true that I had felt like that, but I had simply lost track of time and only come around when he had come into the room, clearly much later.

"I'm guessing you would rather not watch a film tonight or whatever," Ross said, and I nodded, feeling a little bad because I knew that particularly around this time, we barely get any time to have time just for ourselves, and tonight could've been one of those moments.

"I'm sorry," I said, as Ross looked at me as if he was wondering what on earth I was apologising for.

I realised that I was too tired to try and explain why I had felt an apology was necessary, and besides, it probably was me just being unnecessarily apologetic. Ross seemed completely okay with dropping the topic too.

"Good night," he said, as he walked into the en-suite bathroom, most likely to begin getting ready for bed himself.

A/N: Apologies again for yet another shorter chapter, but I can tell you now that there is so much more to come that I'm genuinely quite excited for! Again, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 17 – Lara

"Thanks," I say to the bus driver as I get off, starting to walk past the bus stop towards the road to the corner of my street.

Everyone who had got off my stop went opposite ways to me, which I was glad of. Although I had gotten to know more people who got off at the same place as me, none of them were particularly my friend, and it was nice not to have to make the usual awkward small talk with them that I was usually forced to engage in when the bus picks us up in the morning.

My day had been very uneventful, but certainly not one of the worst I had ever had. Fortunately, it had just mainly consisted of revision for finals and coursework in my Photography class. Erica had been in my Photography class as she usually was, so we had been able to mess around a bit as we always did when we were together so it had made it vastly more fun than any of my other lessons.

Narrowly dodging an oncoming car as I must have been daydreaming for a minute or two, I followed the road until I was on the sidewalk on the side that the house was on.

When I reached the front door, I found my key in my school bag and attempted to use it to unlock the door, as I was sure that Mom and Dad would still be out at work at this time. So it kinda confused me when I realised that it was already unlocked.

Nevertheless, I walked in and started to take my shoes off and hang up my jacket, wanting to disappear upstairs to watch Netflix and continue revising as soon as possible.

I was just about to pick up my bag from the bottom stair and then proceed to climb the stairs when I heard muffled voices coming from the direction of the kitchen. I assumed it was Mom or Dad with Emma or something, so I was going to just ignore it and then continue to go upstairs, but then I heard the same voices again, but this time it was clear whoever it was was shouting and that couldn't be a good sign.

I left my bag on the stairs, and started to make my way towards the kitchen to get a better idea of what was going on, but whilst also trying not to let them know I was there, on the off chance that whatever they were talking (or rather shouting) about wasn't supposed to be heard by me.

Fortunately, the section of the hallway where the bathroom was posed a perfect hiding spot. it was not too far away that you couldn't hear what was going on in the kitchen, but it was not to close either and it was also well hidden if you were making your way down the hallway, as you would most likely gloss over the entrance to the bathroom unless it was there that you wanted to go.

It was now clear to me that whoever was in the kitchen was shouting and certainly talking in raised voices, as I attempted to stay down whilst also managing to stay balancing but also strain to hear what was being said. After a couple more minutes of listening I could tell that the voices were definitely Mom and Dad, but the dialogue of what they were saying was still too unclear.

If I wanted to have any chance of actually hearing what they were saying, I would have to move closer and risk being discovered by them.

After a couple more minutes of deliberating whether it was worth taking the risk of getting found out, I just decided to go straight ahead with sitting against the wall, just off the side of the kitchen door. That way, I would get the best sound quality possible without actually being in the room from the gaps between the door frame and the actual door.

I managed to move from the bathroom to sit right against wall beside the side of the door with the handle on it. I had to sit on that particular side as it was the side with the biggest gap, and so I would have the best chance of hearing there.

Luckily, my theory turned out right and I was able to pick up almost every word that was being said in what I could tell more than ever now was an incredibly heated conversation.

"Why didn't you just wake me up and tell me at the time?" I heard Mom say, not shouting as Dad had been but with a tone that was still as frosty.

"Because it was like 3am, for fucks sake!" Dad shouted back. "If I'd have woken you up, the girls and Ben would probably have too, and they had school the next day!"

"Well, fair enough about the kids, but why weren't you going let me help you deal with the situation?" Mom said, her tone edging away from being completely frosty now with an added hint of frustration.

"Because she's my Mom and therefore she's _my_ responsibility, not yours!" Dad yelled back.

My blood went cold as it hit me like a ton of bricks with who they must be talking about.

Fuck.

No.

It can't be that…. right?!

I tried to continue following the conversation, but it was as if my brain had suddenly turned into mush and I was experiencing some kind of blinding headache because of it.

"I may not know much about things that aren't fashion," Mom said, bitterly, "but I do know a thing or two about losing people close to you. And one thing I know for sure is that you should never try and bottle up how you feel without having someone you can trust to share it with so they can support you!"

This was enough to confirm that what I thought I heard had been true. Nevertheless, I still tried desperately to shove this to the back of my mind and focus on continuing to follow the conversation once again.

"Do I _look_ like I need help?" Dad said, in a tone that was mostly shouting but not quite, with undertones of high levels of annoyance and frustration.

Mom laughed bitterly. "You want me to answer that honestly?" she said, the sarcasm stinging like you might expect from an insect bite.

"Go ahead!" Dad shouted, this comment having clearly pushed him over the edge. "Hit me with the truth," he emphasised the word truth with the clear intention of mocking Mom, whilst simultaneously managing to sound scathing.

"You know what?" Mom shouted, clearly having snapped after Dad's last comment. "I can't even try and have a conversation with you as an adult if you aren't going to behave like one yourself!"

"I'm sorry, I thought we were playing pretend families and I was your son," Ross replied, deadpan.

"Fuck you, Ross Eustace Geller!" I heard Mom shout and then a suddenly sound like a whip cracking followed.

"Ow! What was that for?" Dad said, sounding genuinely hurt but with a hint of amusement in his tone.

"I'm fucking done," Mom said, and then I heard the door handle turning in the lock and then it was subsequently being pushed open.

I didn't have any time to attempt to hide.

I saw Mom's expression turn from anger at Dad to one of surprise when she saw me. "Lara, what are you doing here?" she said, her tone sounding more shocked and confused than anything else, including the anger that I was low-key expecting at my grand reveal.

I tried desperately to rack my brain for an answer but I got literally nothing. "Sitting here, I guess," I said, hoping that stating the obvious a little bit wouldn't annoy her somehow.

Mom's eyes narrowed, and it became clear to me that she knew that I had been eavesdropping. "Ross! Come here!" she yelled.

Dad came to the door, and I saw his surprised expression at seeing me.

"Wassup," he said, earning a well-timed glare from Mom.

"You're supposed to be questioning her, not treating her as if she's some mate you're friends with, dimwit!" Mom said angrily, through gritted teeth.

Now it was Dad's turn to get pissed.

Instead, he chose to purposely ignore Mom, and continued to ask how my day was.

"Pretty decent," I answered, feeling kind of bad for Mom. "You?"

"Nothing particularly bad or good," he answered.

I continued giving into Dad's attempts at small talk, but I also kept an eye on Mom, and started really wishing that Dad would just stop and talk to her and resolve whatever problem they had had. I also wouldn't mind knowing more about my Grandmother's situation, after all.

Dad was so was so absorbed in attempting to converse with me that he didn't notice that Mom had started clutching her stomach as if somehow she had been winded, looked a bit green and her face was screwed up in pain as if she was about to pass out any minute now.

I was about to move closer to her to guide her to the kitchen or sit her on the floor or anywhere where she could be safe when I heard something hit the floor with a bang.

Fuck, I thought, knowing that it had to be Mom.

It was her and by the time I had knelt down beside her to assess the situation, Dad had noticed her as well.

"What the fuck?" he exclaimed, looking at me as if I might know the answers to what had happened.

"She just started clutching her stomach and seemed to be in a lot of pain, and then suddenly fainted on us," I explained frantically, feeling very stressed out and scared myself.

"Do you have your phone on you?" Dad asked, his Professor voice coming out.

I nodded, brining my phone out of my jean pants pocket.

"Call 911 and get an ambulance to come," Dad said, and I obediently dialled 991.

"911, what's your emergency?" I heard on the other end of the line.

"Erm…" I stuttered at first (probably out of fear from the situation) and decided to clear my throat before trying again. "So Mom just fainted after like clutching her stomach in pain, and like my Dad is currently with her, but can we get an ambulance to come and get her to the hospital in case it's, like, something serious?"

"Of course," the voice, who sounded like a woman, said. "What's the address?"

"15, Beverley Street, Westchester County, 10506," I said, relieved that Mom and Dad had put so much focus onto us about learning our exact postcode when we were younger.

"Thank you," the woman said. "Just before I go, can I get your name?"

"Lara Geller-Green," I replied.

"Okay, a paramedic will be down with an ambulance soon," the woman said over the phone. "In the meanwhile, can you make sure that your dad is making sure that Mom stays breathing and stays with her at all times until the paramedics get to the house?"

"Of course," I said, hanging up the phone.

I turned to Dad. "An ambulance is coming, but the lady on the phone said you should check that Mom is breathing and stay with her until the paramedics get here."

"Okey doke," Dad said. "Can you go and get your Mom a blanket from the living room?"

I ran into the living room and picked the nearest fluffy blanket, balled it up and then bought it out to Dad. He took it from my hands and then covered Mom in it so she could be a little more comfortable.

I sat on the floor near Dad and Mom, ready to be able to need to get up and answer the door for the paramedics at any time.

A/N: I'm probably going to be doing double uploads for each of the books for the next few chapters, so hopefully Chapter 18 on here will be up soon. This is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 18 – Ross

I was sitting in the waiting room in the ER ward, waiting anxiously for the doctor's report on Rachel. Lara and I didn't have to wait too long for an ambulance, and so I left her at home to wait for Emma to get back home and then they would stay together at home until Rachel and I got back.

The paramedics had rushed Rachel straight into to do an x-ray and other mandatory procedures for investigation, guided by the information that I had told them about her condition, originally courtesy of Lara. I had been waiting about an hour, and was hoping that I wouldn't be having to wait for much longer.

The thing that massively confused me is that, as far as I knew, Rachel hadn't been experiencing persistent stomach pains before today that I knew of, or that she had particularly mentioned to me. If anything, it made the outcome of this situation all the more ambiguous and terrifying. Whenever the paramedics had discussed the reasons behind Rachel's condition, they looked far from reassured by the possibilities.

At this point, I was just desperate to be called in by the doctor. All this spare time spent waiting had meant that there had been more time for my brain to try and come up with as many reasons that Rachel was fucked as possible, and nothing seemed to be able to block them out.

Just as I was contemplating going to get another plastic cup of water from the water dispenser in the ward, I saw a doctor with a blue clipboard walk out from somewhere that I couldn't quite place. Nevertheless, the next thing he did was say, "Ross Geller-Green? Next of kin for Rachel Geller-Green?"

"That's me," I said, standing up from the ward plastic chairs that I had been sitting on, and over to where the doctor stood.

"Come with me, then," the doctor instructed as I followed him down towards the end of the ward and then up a flight of steps. "I'm Dr Evans, by the way."

We climbed up another two flights of stairs before stopping in front of a doorway to a longer corridor. Immediately, the word in black capitals above it caught my attention.

WARD 17: ONCOLOGY

Despite having not done Biology for a great many years, I still knew enough about what this particular ward specialised in to feel a pit of dread start to form in my stomach.

I forced myself to takes the steps forward to continue following Dr Evans, feeling no better when we stop in front of what must be his office. Dr Evans encourages me to pull up a seat, and so I sit obediently, my feet shuffling nervously, dreading every little bit of what he was going to be telling me.

"So, I'm sure by the plaque outside the ward, you have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to be telling you, Mr Geller-Green," Dr Evans said, and I nodded in agreement.

"First of all, I just wanted to give you my genuine condolences for having to go through something like this, not only for you and your wife, but I also understand you have kids, so them too," Dr Evans said, and I could tell that he genuinely meant what he was saying even though it was still clearly a routine speech that he gives all his patients and their families. "Would you like to hear the better news first or the worse news first?"

"Worse news first," I said, my voice cracking slightly, as it was an effort to muster up an answer. Part of me also just wanted to get it over and done with though, so this overtook for the time being.

"We've done some x-rays and a few other tests and we can confirm that your wife is in the advanced stages of cervical cancer," Dr Evans said, clearly watching to see my reaction to see if he should continue on or if I needed a few minutes before he told me more. "You're lucky we caught her now, because it seems although the tumours have only started growing and multiplying at an alarming recently, they seem to have been in her system for quite a long while, 10+ years most likely."

"Okay," I said, unsure what else to say apart from let her know that I was completely following what she was saying.

"I'm sure you will want to know what we can do about it, in terms of treatment, which was actually the better news," Dr Evans started talking again, as I nodded in agreement. "The first option is to do three bouts of 6 weeks of chemo and continue with that and the second is that we still do the bouts of chemo but we give her surgery to remove the tumours completely. Alternatively, the third option is that we can go straight into surgery."

I had one question before I made my final decision. "What are the survival rates or other consequences of each of the treatments?"

Dr Evans coughed and took a sip of a water bottle that was on her desk that I actually hadn't noticed before now. "Well, chemotherapy is always our first action and is usually quite effective, depending on the severity of the cancer. However, if we talk specifically in terms of Rachel's cancer, there would only be about a 50/50 chance of her surviving solely with that means of treatment, so I wouldn't really advise you to go in this direction when making your decision. This brings me onto the topic of surgical removal. If you chose to use this after the 3 bouts of chemo, there would be a 75% of the cancer going completely but it's almost guaranteed that Rachel would be left infertile. The same would be said if you went down that route as a single means of treatment," he said.

"Can we go with the chemo for the time being and reassess her progress at the end of the three bouts to choose where to go from there?" I asked, feeling as if my brain was going to explode from all this new information.

"That's what I would have done if I was in your position, but of course," Dr Evans said, giving me a reassuring nod.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 19 – Ben

I heard a knock at the door, and turned to shoot a look at Lara, to get her judgement on whether one of us should answer it.

The both of us just ended up sitting there until whoever was at the door started talking.

"Kids! It's your father!"

Dad's back. A wave of relief and anger at the same time coursed through me. Just because I was glad that he was finally back did not mean I had forgiven him for leaving Lara and I in the dark, even in spite of the situation.

I heard the sound of key turning in the lock, and saw from Lara's look that she flashed me that she had acknowledged it too, and felt much the same way as I did about Dad's arrival back home.

As Dad walked through the kitchen door, Lara and I just kind of stood there, unsure how best to approach the situation and so we did nothing, hoping that Dad would initiate the conversation and then we would go from there.

"What's up in the hood?" Dad asked, clearly making a disastrous attempt at humour to lighten the mood.

Lara shrugged noncommittally.

"Am I on the set of a silent film or something?" Dad asked, miming searching the kitchen for hidden cameras.

I shot Lara look, as if to ask whether we should put him out of his misery, before he has too much fun coming up with ridiculous explanations for our silence.

"We have a few questions for you," Lara said, as my answer.

"Likewise," Dad said, seeming unbothered by Lara's colder tone.

"So who's going to go first?" Dad asked, breaking the awkward silence that had settled between the three of us.

"I will," Lara said, sounding confident but also a little bitter. "Why didn't you answer your phone when you were at the hospital, because there must have been some time that you would've been able to call us?"

The distinct trill of a phone ringtone penetrated the quiet of the kitchen, and I turned to Lara, expecting it to be her phone going off, as Dad's might be dead after where he's been.

It turned out to be Dad's, who walked over to the kitchen diner couch and accepted the call.

I shot a look at Lara, yet another wave of anger washing me as he almost definitely had been purposely ignoring our calls if his phone still worked now.

From where Lara and I were sat at the kitchen table, we could still hear the conversation between Dad and whoever was on the other side, much to our relief.

"Don't try and fucking blow me off, Ross Eustace Geller!" we heard the person on the end of the call yell. I turned to look at Lara, and as our gases met, I could tell that Lara also had figured out that it was Monica.

"Get out my face then and take a fucking Prozac or some other shit!" Dad yelled back, matching Monica's voice's volume.

"Don't put me position like this then! It's that simple!" Monica yelled back in reply.

"Who the fuck said you had to get involved then?" Dad asked, his tone expressing pride as if he thought he had discovered a fault in Monica's argument.

"Don't even give me that bullshit," Monica said in response. "And, actually, it was my responsibilities as any aunt to your kids that said that I needed to get involved."

"What the hell do you mean?" Dad asked, after a few moments of silence in which he seemed to be trying to puzzle out what Monica was on about.

"Your daughter contacted me because she was worried about you and your wife, and couldn't contact the person who really has the responsibility to be the one who shares that information before she would need to consider asking me," Mon said, no longer shouting though her tone was no less scathing even so.

"So you think I was being a shitty parent by staying with my seriously ill wife?" Dad asked, in a voice that deliberately made Monica seem like she had asked ridiculously obvious question and should be feeling embarrassed over her own stupidity.

A million questions swarmed my brain all at once as what dad had just said dawned on me. My mind felt strangely numb, as if I had a headache but couldn't feel any of the usual pain that would follow. I turned to look at Lara to see if she looked as if she was feeling the same way. My eyes followed her gaze, confirming my suspicions that she was miles away, probably haven given into the irresistible relief of the numbness.

"Sounds about right," Monica replied, sounding completely certain. "Oh, the irony," she added, laughing bitterly.

"Of what?" Dad asked, sounding completely done with the situation but clearly no less pissed off over it.

"Using your wife's cancer to excuse you from looking after your kids when they need you," Mon said, her disapproval and bitter disbelief of the situation crystal clear from her tone.

Dad laughed heartily, again insinuating that Monica was making yet another ridiculously untrue claim. "You must be referring to my identical twin, Russ," Dad added, slapping his thigh as if he had just said the best joke ever created.

"I can't stay on this call any longer without saying something that I will end up seriously regretting so sorry, but for both of our families' sake, I'm going to have to hang up on you," Mon said firmly, as the beep signalling the end of the call followed.

"Well, that's just brilliant!" Dad yelled, throwing his phone down, presumably aiming to drop it down on the couch but instead it landed screen down on the floor.

The sound of glass shattering followed, halting Dad in his endeavour to retrieve it off of the floor.

"Cherry on the top of the motherfucking cake!"

Lara and I just kept sitting, unsure whether we should be helping Dad clear up and assess the damage or whether Dad was in a state where it would be better to leave him alone to sort things out for himself.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 20 – Emma

I turned my key in the lock, and opened the house front door. Since it was pretty early in the morning, I thought that turning the main light on would draw too much attention, and instead used my phone flashlight to help me navigate and not make noise by falling over everything.

If Dad found about where I'd been or what I'd done, I'd be screwed and so acting as sneakily as possible was fundamental if I was to survive long enough to still be here tomorrow. I managed to hang up my jacket successfully and was in the middle of taking off my boots that I'd been wearing when I heard the click of the hallway light being switched on.

Looking up in my surprise, I found myself faced by Dad.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked me, as I hastily tried to shove my boots into the shoe cupboard.

"Up to my room," I said, attempting to sound as if I was simply just being asked the question, not as if I was in trouble.

"At 2.30am?" Dad said, one eyebrow cocked. "Nice try."

I shuffled on one foot to the other, desperately trying to rack my brain for some kind of clever comeback, but finding that I was still a little too tipsy to think of anything that would actually work well enough.

"So, what were you doing?" Dad asked, and I knew that there would be no chance of him dropping the subject until I confessed.

"Doing stuff," I said, trying to sound as nonchalant as I could.

"What _kind_ of stuff?" Dad said, his annoyance now crystal clear from his tone of voice. He moved to stand closer to me, and I fumbled in my pocket for breath mints, until I remembered that I had left the packet I'd bought on the way back home in my jacket.

Dad was silent for a couple of minutes as if he was deep in thought, and I knew I was fucked, even before he opened his mouth to speak, nostrils flaring angrily before he attempted to recompose himself.

"Have you had a drink?" he asked, his tone sounding calm although I knew from his body language that he was anything but.

"If you mean water, not recently, no," I countered, feeling pretty proud of it.

Dad shook his head despairingly, before speaking again.

"You know what I meant," he said, his tone still calm, but this time with a definite steely edge to it. "Who was it with?"

"Robert," I said, still attempting to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"Where were you?" Dad asked, as I started to feel more and more like I was on some kind of quiz show.

"At one of his friends' houses," I answered, knowing that this would ignite the argument further and honestly not feeling ashamed by it in any way.

I saw Dad bristling as if he were a hedgehog again, and felt a pang of satisfaction.

"What were you doing there?" Dad said, remaining calm and composed as he was trying to sound seeming almost impossible at this point. He also emphasised the word 'doing'.

"Things," I said, feeling myself squirm uncomfortably as I spoke and tried to gauge Dad's reaction.

"What _kind_ of things?" Dad asked, although I knew that he had almost definitely caught onto to what I was thinking and desperately hoped he wouldn't even think of.

"Give up with the quizzing – you've already figured it out!" I yelled at him, all chill completely lost.

"I actually can't believe it," Dad said in a raised voice, shaking his head in clear disbelief. "Underage drinking and underage sex in one night! What the fuck were you thinking?"

I continued to shuffle from one foot to the other, again unsure what would be the best way to answer him.

Thankfully, I was saved by the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway.

"What's going on?" Ben asked, sounding as if he had just woken up. Lara was standing beside him, rubbing her eyes as Ben spoke.

"Emma here has been deeply irresponsible," Dad said, as I shot daggers his way.

Lara and Ben looked uncomfortable, as if neither of them knew how to respond to something like that.

"Dad thinks I'm a slut," I said, hoping that this would explain it well enough.

I see Lara and Ben eye each other, as if they are now even more of how to act or what to say.

"You go cool off," Ben eventually says, guiding Dad down the hallway, presumably to go to the kitchen.

When Ben comes back, I speak first.

"What's happen since I left?" I ask, realising that although a lot seems to have happened, I know literally none of it.

Ben and Lara look at each other uncomfortably again, as if neither one of them wants to be the one who answers me.

They can't hate me as well, right?

After a few uncomfortable moments of silence, Ben starts talking as Lara moves closer to me and drapes her arm around my shoulder.

"Rachel was taken to hospital and they discovered she has life-threatening cancer," Ben said, almost flinching as he spoke.

My heart skipped a beat. "What the fuck?" I said, feeling dazed as if I'd just woken up from passing out.

"Your Mom has cancer, Emma," Ben said again, looking into my eyes sadly as he spoke.

I must have been shaking pretty hard, because Ben made me sit on the bottom step of the stairs, as he didn't want me to faint in his words. I was pretty sure I wouldn't, but I went along with it because there was no real reason not to.

"It'll be okay," Ben said, in a tone that he clearly hoped would reassure me.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 21 – Rachel

"I can't wait to be back and see the kids," I said to Ross, feeling tears well up in my eyes as I spoke.

"Me too," Ross said, squeezing my hand gently. "Me too."

I'd been in hospital since Tuesday night and was due to go home for a few days before I had to start my first bout of chemotherapy for the cancer. The kids would be able to visit me of course, but other than that, I wouldn't see them or Ross. Particularly during a time like this, I knew being separated from them would be one of the hardest challenges, although apparently incomparable to what the doctors told me I would face as a result of the chemo.

Regarding the actual cancer diagnosis, they had told me that it had been caused by a group of tiny benign tumours in my cervix that had turned malignant over time and had started multiplying. Unfortunately, because of the time that had been left before making a diagnosis, the cancer was getting closer and closer by the day to the stage where it would be a matter of almost immediate life or death. They could still treat it by chemo and pain killers at present, but when it reaches the life threatening stage, they would have no choice but to operate. The operation would completely remove the tumours, with a fairly normal to low - according to the doctor - recurrence rate, but it would almost definitely leave me infertile. Nevertheless, it was better than the other option at this point, which would be to continue with the chemo at that stage and have me die because the cancer would spread and take over my vital organs via the bloodstream as chemo alone would be nowhere near as strong as the treatment that would be required then to save me. If they did then choose to operate at that point, it would almost definitely be too late.

Ross had told me that the kids and the rest of our family and friends knew about the cancer, and I could only hope that they weren't struggling too much.

During his visit yesterday, Ross had told me about the plans that Phoebe had made to have all of us over to her and Mike's, whilst the doctors had been making the decision as to whether they could ahead with allowing me home before the chemo starts or whether it was necessary to keep me here and go ahead with it straight away.

Fortunately for the both of us, the verdict had been positive, and I was to come home for 3 to 4 days to pack and say goodbye to family and friends before being readmitted to the Oncology unit at the beginning of the coming week.

Since I had the physical strength for the time being to not need a wheelchair, I swung my legs off of the hospital bed, and continued to help Ross pack away my stuff ready to go home.

Once both Ross and I were confident that I had got everything, I said goodbye to the doctor who would be in charge of looking after me, called Dr Evans.

Holding a holdall filled with clothes and other toiletries I'd used after over the last few days, I walked down the rest of the Oncology ward, Ross following closely behind. Rather than going down the stairs at the end of the ward, I scanned the end of the corridor for an elevator. When I found one that happened to have been staring me in the face, I realised as I mentally rolled my eyes, I pressed the button, fully expecting to have to wait ages before being able to board.

Ironically enough, the elevator opened only a few seconds after me pressing the button. I walked in, selecting the ground floor, as Ross joined inside the elevator.

"You okay there?" he asked as he turned to face me, concern in his eyes.

After news like what we had received, I couldn't blame him for being more overprotective of me.

"I'm fine," I said, smiling, in a tone that I hoped conveyed reassurance. "Are you?"

"Getting there," Ross answered, clearly attempting to sound nonchalant about it when I knew he was anything but, and could see right through the act.

After what seemed like many years, we were finally at the entrance of the hospital and walking together over to the car.

Despite my protests, Ross insisted that I make myself comfortable in the car whilst he packed away my luggage in the back of the car.

During the journey, my head was filled with wondering how the kids were doing and just how desperate I was to see them as I had missed them so much, which made a small part of me wonder how on earth I would manage to get through 3 lots of 6 weeks where I wasn't almost constantly around them.

I felt like screaming out of happiness when the car finally backed into the garage and Ross switched off the ignition. I moved my arm to unlock the shotgun seat door until Ross slapped it away. I eyed him, confused, as he opened his own door and then walked in front of the car, stopping on my side. Then I realised what he was doing.

"Thanks, babe," I said, as he held the door open for me and then slammed it shut afterwards.

Ross was one step ahead of me in unlocking the door, and carried in my luggage as I started unzipping my boots. Realising that if I continued doing it this way, I would cause myself the unbearable shooting pains that seemed to explode any time I leant over or did anything similar.

I heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway and felt my heart leap as I tried to guess which of the kids it would be.

"MOM'S HOME! MOM'S HOME! MOM'S HOME!" Lara yelled, presumably to Ben and Emma, in a way that reminded me of some sort of chant.

Lara almost slammed into me as she tried to hug me because she was so relieved to see me. Ross started reprimanding her, as he knew that the impact would likely set off the pains that I had been trying to avoid off. With my one relatively free hand, I waved my hand to show to Ross that it was totally fine.

Lara and I were about to break apart from our hug as Ben and Emma appeared, apparently in some kind of race down the stairs.

Skidding to a halt before they caused either of themselves harm, I saw both of their faces light up in giant smiles when they saw me.

"Mommy!" Emma exclaimed, catching me off guard in the best possible way as, although she hadn't referred to me as that since she was around 5 years old, it was still an insanely sweet gesture if anything the fact that it was so unexpected was what made it so adorable.

She hugged me, less furiously than Lara had, but still with the same kind of steady, firm grip.

After Emma and I had finished our hug, I gave Ben a playful slap on the back in return for a smile and a "Genuinely hope you're doing well, Fun Aunt Rachel."

My heart felt like it was going to explode when Ben said his nickname that he used to call me many years and years ago. Was I in some kind of time machine or simulation where everything looked like it was 2019 but actually wasn't?

I wished that I could just freeze this moment in time, where it was perfect and everyone seemed unbelievably happy and all the other circumstances that we were in just didn't matter.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 22 – Lara

"I don't want you to have to go," I said, drawing out the 'o'.

"I don't really want to either," Mom said, as she finished packing away the shirt that she had been attempting to fold into the suitcase on her and Dad's bed.

I was helping her get ready, mostly because it meant that I would get a few extra moments with her before she had to go into hospital. I don't think any of us really wanted her to go, least of all herself, but she and Dad had both been trying to reassure us that this was far, far, far better than the alternative. None of us wanted to speak about the alternative as, although we were all aware of it, not uttering a word about it made it easier to even consider thinking about.

"Okay, Lara," Mom said, as she sat on top of her suitcase in an attempt to squash the load within it down enough to be able to successfully zip it shut, "Go tell your father that I've just gotta go finish getting my toiletries packed and then we're good to go."

I nodded obediently, even though I was desperate not to have to leave, and started making my back downstairs to go and find Dad.

He was sitting in the living room, watching some National Geographic documentary, but manage to divert his attention long enough to pause it and acknowledge me.

"Hey, Lara," he said. "What's up?"

"I just came to say that Mom says that she has just got to pack her toiletries and then she'll be ready to go," I answered.

I walked over to where Dad was sitting and joined him on the couch, snuggling up tight to him. Not long afterwards, I felt tears that I hadn't even known the existence of yet spill over, morphing quickly into giant, racking sobs.

"Oh, Lara," I heard Dad say, his own voice breaking for a moment as he spoke. "Everything's going to be fine. Mom will be back before you know it, just you wait, well on the road to her recovery!"

He had got the reason I was crying right, but even he couldn't guarantee that she would definitely be okay, and I suspected that must be massively bothering him too.

I don't know how long Dad and I were together, but it must have been quite a while, because the next moment Mom was down here with us.

Hastily trying to wipe at my already very red eyes and tears that had ended up running with my mascara and probably looked hilariously unflattering now, I looked up. It would break Mom's heart to know that I'd been crying, but there was no way that I could cover it up without her knowing.

"Oh, baby!" she said, rushing straight towards me to embrace me in a hug, her eyebrows furrowed with concern.

We hugged for a quite a while, even though it felt like only about two seconds in my mind, but that was probably because I was so desperate for her not leave that any other time with her wouldn't be able to quite satisfy me at this moment in time.

"I'm fully packed now, by the way," Mom said, as Dad and I followed her upstairs to the room so we could help her get her luggage down the staircase.

Both Ben and Emma had decided they didn't want to come with us all the way to the hospital, as it was going to be easier for the both of them to just say goodbye here, and not drag it out, as they would find it easier then to accept her absence. I, on the other hand, wanted every single moment I could possibly get with Mom before Dad and I really did have to go.

Around fifteen minutes later, when all the bags had been safely packed into Dad's car and all the people were too, we began the journey to the hospital.

Fighting back the urge break down crying again, I shuffled my most favourite Spotify playlist at the moment, and attempted to use this to distract myself.

After what I could've sworn was only about 10 minutes, we arrived at the hospital and Dad got out of the driver's side of the car and opened the trunk of the car to get Mom's luggage.

Mom and I joined him about two minutes later, and shared the luggage equally between us, as Mom ignored Dad's protests that the two of us could manage to take the luggage between us without needing her to carry some as well.

Dad introduced Mom at the hospital entrance desk, and the double doors were buzzed open for us to walk through.

On the way to the actual ward, no one talked much, as I guessed that we were all feeling the same way about not wanting to have to make conversation when none of us were really feeling like we wanted to, and a forced conversation between the three of us would be a pretty lousy memory for however long it was until we would all be reunited again.

When we approached the sign above the entrance to the Oncology ward, I felt my legs turn to lead and every step from then on was like I was treading water. At one point, I must have frozen halfway up the corridor because Dad had to guide me forward to continue to walk.

Dad was first to reach the door of Mom's temporary home for the next 6 weeks, and opened it so Mom and I could go in. Dr Evans and a nurse were sitting on the bed, as Dr Evans announced that he and the nurse – Paula was apparently her name – had been preparing the room for Mom's arrival.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 23 – Ben

I heard the doorbell ring, and since no one was in the hallway or seemed to be downstairs, I went ahead and opened the door.

"Oh, hi Ben," Aunt Monica said, looking a little surprised to see that it was me who opened the door. "Is Lara there?"

I called for Lara up the stairs, hoping that she would come down promptly and see to whatever Monica wanted from her.

"I'm here to take her to school with my kids," Aunt Monica added, clearly having realised that I hadn't been told exactly why she was here.

"Oh, awesome," I said, feeling a relief for Dad as I knew that he had already been struggling with taking care of the three if us since Rachel left, but also that he was struggling to admit it. Lara must have taken matters into her own hands to arrange Mon coming to get her.

"Both Chandler and I are 100% willing to help you guys out in any way that we can," Monica added, sounding as if she really did want to make sure that everything was kept running as smoothly as possible whilst everything was going on.

"Thanks, I'll make sure to let Dad know that," I said, as Lara finally came running downstairs, looking fully ready to go.

"Bye, Ben," she said, hugging me, before leaving with Monica.

I shut the front door and then started walking back into the kitchen as I couldn't remember if I'd even had time to think about getting myself breakfast yet.

As I was waiting for my toast to pop up from the toaster, Emma walked in.

"There's bread still available if you want toast," I said to her, assuming that she come in to get herself breakfast.

"Thanks," she said, in answer. "But I think I'll just go for Coco Pops."

She walked over to the fridge, selected a carton of milk and poured it over her cereal. She then returned the milk carton and came over to sit at the table with me.

"You all right?" I asked her.

"I guess so," she shrugged. This left me kind of concerned as I wasn't sure whether she was actually okay or not, and felt like I had a responsibility as her half-brother to make sure she was.

"Anything you wanna talk about?" I said, hoping that this would still be open-ended enough for her not to feel like I was pressuring her into giving an answer, but more in line with my actual motives for asking.

"Not really, apart from the fact that Dad's fucked," Emma answered, taking me a little off guard by how brash her answer was.

I'm guessing that she was referring to the fact that since Mom left to be in hospital, he's seemed almost permanently distracted, as if she was all he could think of and nothing else mattered. Of course, this was completely reasonable of him, but there was definitely a limit that he could reach before he would start needing some kind of additional help to look after us.

Although I hadn't quite got to the point of sharing the idea quite yet to Emma, I was pretty sure that if it was necessary, Mom and Susan would be willing to try and help in some way. Despite the fact that Mom and Dad were of course no longer together, I knew that Mom had never really stopped caring about Dad certainly as good friends.

"I see what you mean," I said, in agreement with Emma, as I stood up and walked over to the toaster as it was ready for me to start buttering the bread I had put on.

After pouring myself a glass of orange juice, I bought that and the plate back over to the table.

Once I was ready, I told Emma that I was going to check on Dad, and that she was free to focus on getting herself ready for school without having to worry about him.

The curtains were still drawn in Dad's room, so I opened them, wanting to let some light in to make it feel less gloomy up there.

"Rachel?" Dad muttered, as he rolled over in the bed, clearly still half asleep.

"It's Ben," I said, starting to walk towards the bedroom door. "I'll be back in a moment with some coffee," I said, leaving the bedroom door ajar and starting to make my way back down the stairs and to the kitchen.

The kitchen was empty when I got in, as clearly Emma had gone upstairs to get herself ready. I poured some water in the kettle and sat at the table, waiting for it to boil. Once it had boiled, I added it to the mug of coffee granules and started stirring the mug, once I'd bought it over to the table where I'd been sitting.

Whilst I waited for it to cool down enough for me to be able to get it upstairs without it being too hot to handle, I scrolled through my phone absent-mindedly.

Once enough time had passed, I pocketed my phone and started making my way upstairs again. Dad's door was now fully open, as clearly he had gone to the bathroom or something, so I just sat the mug of coffee down on one of the coasters on his bedside table.

I was just about to leave when I heard the sound of footsteps coming back to the room, and turned round to see Dad standing in the doorway.

"I've left a coffee for you beside your bed," I said, feeling a little like I'd been caught off guard slightly for doing something much dodgier than it actually was.

"Thanks, Ben," Dad answered. "I really appreciate it."

I left him to get ready for the day in peace, and went to my own room to start getting myself ready.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 24 – Rachel

"I'm doing all right, okay?" I said to Ross, looking him in the eye, trying to move to face him as much as I could without doing something to the IV line I was hooked up to.

He nodded back at me, though I could tell that he wasn't convinced. The truth was that I was feeling fine now, but Dr Evans had said that I should prepare for a very rough time with the chemo. Honestly, I was just trying to live in the here and now, rather than thinking too far into the future, as it seemed like it would end up being far easier to deal with that way.

"Are the kids all doing okay?" I asked, since there had been limited mention of them since I had arrived, to the point where I was a little surprised and concerned about it.

"They're doing great," Ross said, if a little dismissively.

I decided to let it go, figuring that his dodging of talking about the kids was just out of concern for me, and they probably were doing just as fine as he had said they were.

Just as I was about to start talking to him again, the room door opened and Dr Evans walked in. I saw Ross tense up, as if he thought that her arrival was a sign that something was wrong, but I knew that she was only here to check up on me and how I was reacting to the IV and the chemo.

I shot Ross a look and squeezed his hand reassuringly, before we both turned to hear what Dr Evans had to say.

He must have noticed that his visit had made Ross nervous as he said, "This is just a routine to check that nothing is already happening with the treatment that you feel is of concern."

I saw Ross relax as Dr Evans continued to talk. "Are there any issues or discomfort that you're feeling at the moment?" he asked me.

I shook my head, as to be honest the only complaint I had regarding the IV line was just that it had already had a habit of getting tangled when I didn't want it to and just generally being in the way of everything. Nevertheless, I was sure that I would get used to being bed-ridden for the time I would need to be hospitalised pretty soon.

"That's positive to hear," Dr Evans said, starting walk back towards the door. "I won't keep you from being able to be with your husband any longer."

Once Dr Evans had left, I turned back to Ross. "What's the time?" I asked him.

He looked down at his phone, which I hadn't realised that he had been holding the whole time that we had been talking, and showed me his lock screen with the usual time stamp.

"That says it's 15.34," I concluded. "Don't you need to leave to be home for the kids soon?"

Ross shrugged, clearly not wanting to leave me. As much as I myself didn't want him to go either, the kids were still a priority for the both of us, especially Ross at the moment, as he was acting as their sole main carer whilst I was in hospital.

"Go, Ross," I said, hoping that if I was a little more forceful in my tone that he would realise that this mattered more to me in the moment than him staying here would.

"But I don't want to leave you, because I won't know then if you're okay," he said, although I could tell that he was starting to search for excuses to stay like needles in a haystack.

"I have awesome nurses here who will do their job, so you don't have to worry about me," I said, even though I knew of course that his worrying was never going to be solved this simply.

"Fine," he said, begrudgingly, his tone honestly a little pissed off.

Even so, he left after a quick goodbye to me, after I also promised that I would text him to update him on how I was doing later.

The rest of the afternoon was spent not doing an awful lot whilst a bunch of different nurses came to check up on my throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

Food was bought to me at about 6 o'clock in the evening, and was pretty mediocre, as I had sort of expected the quality to be for the duration of my stay. Dr Evans had also mentioned that as we proceeded further into my treatment, I was likely to lose a lot of my appetite, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

Dr Evans came back to my room at around 9pm just to make sure everything was still going okay, and also to introduce me to the nurses who took over the night shift of looking after the wards' patients. After he and the two nurses had left, I proceeded to attempt to fall asleep, as Dr Evans had mentioned that very soon I would need all the energy I could get, and also because I was just generally tired after such a busy and kind of unexpected day.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 25 – Ross

I awoke to the sound of someone shouting my name. As I moved from laying down to sitting up, I saw that it was Ben and I also realised that someone's phone had been going off.

"Are you going to actually get the phone?" Ben asked impatiently, gesturing towards my phone on the bedside table with its flashing screen.

Grunting with the effort of moving, I grabbed my phone and accepted the call.

"Who is it?" I asked, trying mentally to wake myself up a little.

"It's your sister," Monica answered, her tone stone cold for some reason that I couldn't quite recall.

"Forgive me for not wishing you a good morning, then," I said, as neutrally as I could.

"Cut the BS," Mon replied, clearly more annoyed at me somehow, even though it hadn't yet clicked exactly what I had done wrong. "Next time you want to go joyriding off to God knows where, tell someone where you're going, for goodness sake!"

I mentally rolled my eyes as everything fell into place.

"I'm not 15 anymore, and you aren't Mom, so worry about your own life, not mine!" I said, desperate to get this over with.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Mon spat angrily. "So you're just going to forget that you scared the shit out of me and your three kids last night for the second fucking time?"

"And, in case you have forgotten, I also have a wife who's probably going to die and I want to spend as much time with her as I can," I answered, trying not to let the anger that was boiling up inside me spill over and cloud my judgement.

"What are your kids then? Dolls?" Mon yelled down the phone, clearly not planning on letting this go anytime soon.

"Again, in case you had forgotten," I replied, as my eyes darted around the room to see whether Ben was still in here. Confident that he wasn't, I continued, "I have a 23 year old son who could be the girls' temporary guardian and food in the fridge if they needed it."

"And you really think that's fair on Ben?" Mon asked, sounding almost sceptical about my parenting skills.

"Right," I said, done with this conversation and contemplating hanging up in the moment.

"Don't think Dad or I will let you get away with this," Mon said, stopping me in my tracks as it was as if somehow she had read my mind and knew my exact next move.

I cackled heartily. "For what exactly?" I said.

"I'm not playing this game anymore," Mon declared, leaving me dumbfounded as to what she was getting at.

"What game?" I asked, genuinely wanting to know what it was that I had done.

"Playing dumb when it comes to your reluctance to take responsibility and then signposting everything when you're confronted to the fact that your wife is ill," Mon answered, her tone more cold than angry at this point. "It works once, it might work twice, but you cannot use it as an excuse to get out of living your life and taking responsibility for your behaviour every goddamn time!"

"We're not really getting anywhere, and I have stuff to do, so I'm going to leave this conversation here and wish you a good rest of your day," I said firmly, hanging up on Monica and slamming my phone onto the bed.

Desperately craving a mug of coffee, I walked out of the bedroom and started to make my way downstairs to the kitchen.

All three of the kids were already down and in various stages of making their breakfasts.

"Good morning, kids!" I announced, trying to sound as cheerful as possible.

None of them answered, which shocked me at first, until I remembered that even Ben had been a little frostier towards me this morning when he woke me up so I could answer the phone.

Abandoning the idea of attempting to make more small talk, I proceeded to make my breakfast with the least disruption to the kids, intending on taking it back upstairs on one of the spare trays that Rachel and I had bought when we first moved in and were furnishing the house.

Back upstairs, I checked my phone, expecting to see some kind of message from Rachel but then remembering that being on her phone was probably one of her lowest priorities.

Nevertheless, it wasn't long before I was fully ready to leave the house. I'd decided that I would do the weekly grocery shop before going to visit Rachel as usual.

On my way out the door, I passed Ben.

"I'm off to do the grocery shop and go see Rachel," I said to him. "I know you're taking a break from studying, so the offer to join me if you want to is on the table."

"I think I'll pass," he replied, expressionless.

Your call, I thought to myself, as I shut the front door behind me and started walking over to the car.

As I switched the ignition on, my phone started ringing again. I looked down at the caller ID, and saw that it was Carol. Slightly confused as to why she would be calling me at such a random time of day, I switched off the ignition as I didn't want to keep it running if I was going to be stuck here for a while, which I probably would be.

"Hey, Carol," I said. "How can I help?"

"Hi, Ross," she answered. "Monica called and said that you wanted some support in the house whilst Rachel was in hospital."

What a bastard.

"Did she really?" I said, my heart racing with joy over the things I would be saying to Monica later.

"Apparently, you'd been struggling to make time for your kids with everything else going on," she added. Son of a bitch, I thought, a tsunami of anger washing over me.

"Tell her I say thanks," I said, hoping that Carol wouldn't note the sarcasm in my tone, as this would be a necessary element to start the ball rolling for Monica and I's chat later.

"I'll be there in 5," Carol said.

"I'm just leaving," I said, switching the ignition back on and beginning to back out of the parking space onto the main road. "But the kids are still there."

"Okay," Carol said. "See you later."

She hung up and I opened the Spotify app to start playing music for the journey to the store.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 26 – Carol

"We're going to visit your mother," I tell Emma, Lara and Ben as we sit at the kitchen table.

I saw all three of them take a collective sigh of relief, and wondered how long it had actually been since they last saw her. From what I had heard from Mon, Ross had been seriously slacking with taking care of them, and the least they deserved was the chance to be able to see their mother (Ben's stepmother in this case, of course).

Ross hadn't yet come home, which didn't surprise me in the slightest, and honestly I was hoping that he wasn't still there, as I didn't trust at all that he was as happy with this arrangement as he was making out to be and the conversation that we could end up having would not be pretty.

"I'll be back downstairs in a little bit," Emma said, clearly still needing to get ready before going out. Lara left with her, presumably to do the same as her sister.

I turned back to Ben. "Are you doing all right?" I asked him, genuinely concerned for him not only as one of his parents, but also simply after everything that had happened in the last few days.

"Yeah," Ben answered after a while, but I knew him all too well to be reassured by this.

"Susan and I are here to talk if you need, as always," I reminded Ben, hoping that this might prompt him to be a little more open with us on how he was feeling.

"Thanks, Mom," he said, his tone grateful but his smile a little forced. This, of course, just added to the worry I had about him in the pit of my stomach.

Not long afterwards, the girls were back downstairs, and so I started trying to get them into the car, my 'mothering' head back on and all worries pushed to the side.

Ben sat in the shotgun seat and Emma and Lara sat in the back, after I had to break up a fight over who would get to sit in the shotgun seat. In moments like that, I wondered how Ross and Rachel had managed to bring up two daughters, and whether Susan and I had somehow had the better deal with bringing up Ben.

Before telling the kids that we were going to see Rachel, I had sent a text to Ross to let him know we were going there, in case for whatever reason he wasn't already going to be there himself. I guess though, that even if he is there, he would probably appreciate further notice that he and Rachel were going to have more guests. Ross hadn't yet told me much about how Rachel's condition is since the chemo had started, so I was bracing myself for it to be anywhere between how she looked normally and what they call almost a shadow of who the person used to look like before they got ill.

I was mainly bracing myself in the event of that being the case for the kids, as if their mother looked a lot worse than they had ever seen her before, then they would almost definitely start to think that she was losing the battle, even if the results of how the chemo was working showed the exact opposite effect.

I decided that worrying about that was futile for the moment, and pushed it to the back of my mind as I started up the car and backed out of the garage. The journey to the hospital was relatively quiet, with Ben occasionally engaging in small talk with me, but otherwise seeming as if he wanted to avoid talking for fear of being forced to answer to future questions about his feelings.

After having to argue my way a little into being able to go to see Rachel, we finally found our way to Rachel's ward, and were guided down the ward to a room at the end, which the kids told me was apparently Rachel's.

I pushed open the door, the kids following me as I walked in. Rachel seemed to have been in the middle of conversation between her and Ross, but looked up immediately when she saw me and the kids. Her face lit up as it seemed to register that her kids were here, though I noticed her start to frown a little when she saw me, as if she was confused why I was here.

Ross probably didn't tell her about the whole situation around me and the kids, probably not wanting to put any additional stress on Rachel, which I respected, since I was sure I would do the same in this kind of situation. Before I could instruct the kids to go easy on their Mom, they ran over, as I realised that this kind of reminder wasn't necessary as they were old enough and I didn't quite know why I had even thought of it in the first place, apart from it being a result of misplaced anxiety towards the situation.

Rachel still looked relatively well from what I could see from her bedside, which was sort of a relief, although with cancer you can never be too sure with what you see on face value in terms of how someone with it is recovering or not.

"Hey," I said, pulling up a free chair next to her bed.

"Hey," Rachel answered, a little surprise in her voice, which I expected. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Likewise," I said, smiling politely, which was reciprocated by Rachel almost immediately.

"How are things with Susan and work?" Rachel asked, catching me a little off guard, as these had been the topics least on my mind during the last few days understandably.

"Not bad," I answered, feeling a little bothered by how nonchalant that I felt my answer seemed.

Ross caught my eye as I waited for Rachel to speak again, and I gave him a look of what I thought would be reassuring enough to make sure that he knew everything was going fine with the kids etc. He started walking over, alarming me slightly, as I started to think of other ways to reassure him everything was fine, just in case that was his reasoning behind coming over.

"Hey," he said, as he pulled up a chair on the opposite side of the bed to me.

"Hey," Rachel and I said in unison.

"What's going on over here?" Ross said, clearly wanting to make an effort to strike up a conversation with the three of us, despite the slight awkward factor of our history.

"Just talking about boring adult life stuff," I said, giving up trying to sound like it was more interesting than it actually was.

"Oh, goody," Ross said, as Rachel and I laughed about how relatable his sarcastic comment was.

"How is it having so much free time on your hands?" I asked Rachel, realising just how much I wanted some kind of break from everything.

"It's certainly not all it's cracked up to be," Rachel answered. "I mean, you discover just how bad daytime television is," she added, chuckling a little.

"Can't you get Netflix here, Mom?" Emma asked, as three of us realised she must have crept up on us whilst we had been talking.

"Don't have good WiFi connection here," Rachel answered, shrugging, her tone solemn in sympathy with how none of the kids would probably be able to survive without WiFi.

"Screw hospitals," Emma said, as Rachel glared at her, pointing subtly to the nurse working next to her, as clearly a comment like that was likely to come across a disrespectful.

"How is school going?" Rachel proceeded to ask, ignoring Emma's not-so-subtle eye roll, as clearly school wasn't her preferred choice of topic.

"Shitty as always," Emma answered, as Rachel and Ross glared at her this time.

"The exams?" Rachel prompted, as I heard a squeal and realised that Ross had kicked Emma under the table.

"Catch me applying for a job at McDonalds," Emma answered, somehow managing to keep a poker face despite the fact that she must have known neither parent would believe that as an answer.

Ross and Rachel looked at each other, but said nothing more on the situation, obviously having given up on getting a proper answer to any of their questions from Emma.

Lara came over a few minutes later, as Emma walked off somewhere in the room, phone in hand.

"It's so good to see you, Mom!" she exclaimed, leaning down to give Rachel a hug.

"It's good to see you too, Lara," Rachel said, her voice a little muffled by Lara's hair.

Whilst Lara and Rachel were busy talking, I took the opportunity to chat a little with Ross.

"You're not too bothered by the additional support, are you?" I asked, feeling a little uncomfortable because he hadn't been the one to consent to it first.

"Not at you, no," Ross answered, and I knew at that moment exactly who he was talking about.

I'm sure that if Ross knew that I had agreed with Monica that this arrangement had been a good idea, that I would be in hot water too, and therefore to make sure that I could still be involved in taking care of everything, I held back from mentioning anything else, and changed the subject.

"What are you plans for the rest of the week?" I asked, hoping that this was open ended enough not to feel like I was trying to take any of the power away from him in a way that he wouldn't like.

"Not too different from today," he answered. "Although, I would like to take the kids out somewhere at the weekend."

"I'd like to, too," I agreed, mentally starting to think up a plan to make sure that it could happen.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	27. Chapter 27

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 27 – Ross

"I guess we're here then," I said, turning around to face the kids in the back and then turning back round to turn off the ignition.

Carol shot me a look, as if he could sense that the fact that I didn't honestly want to be here at all was threatening to bubble up and spill over misdirected anger and frustration at the kids, which neither of us really wanted.

"Are Erica and the others here yet?" Lara asked, sounding excited as we all knew how much she wanted to see Erica.

"Pretty sure," Carol answered, as Lara immediately opened the door and got out of the car to go find them.

Deciding to let the fact that I thought it was a little reckless of Lara to act so fast slide, Carol and I focused on gathering our bits together for the day out, and making sure that Emma and Ben were happy and good to go when we were.

We joined the others beside their car, and started to make our way into the venue. It seemed to be some kind of trampoline park/leisure type thing, as Carol had explained to me before she called (kind of against my wishes) Chandler to invite him, Mon and their kids.

Relieved to see the three youngest kids go off together and Emma and Ben take themselves off too, I sat at the table with Chandler and the others, hoping that I wouldn't have to say much. Carol and Mon walked over to the restaurant/bar kind of thing in the park and so Chandler and I followed them. Carol offered to get us all coffees and teas, which again I was very grateful for.

Whilst both of the girls were away, I started speaking to Chandler.

"How have things been with Mon and the kids?" I asked him.

"I mean, it's been hard but we are getting on with it, you know," Chandler answered, as I felt pretty bad for him with how stressful and hard it must be for people who are so close to me. "What about you?"

"It's okay, I guess," I answered, realising as I spoke just how much that I wanted to avoid talking about it at all costs.

Chandler must have sensed that it was an uncomfortable topic for me, and so we changed the topic and waited until the others came back.

"Thanks for buying all this for us," Chandler said to Carol.

"No problem," she said to Chandler. "It's the least we could do."

I tried my best to blend into the background whilst Chandler, Monica and Carol spoke, as I just couldn't shake the fact that Mon thought I couldn't cope with the situation with Rachel so much that I needed someone to come and help me. Like, sure if I'd asked for it, the story would be different, but since I hadn't, it was just yet another thing that made me look like a shitty person, which I just wasn't.

After a while, Carol said that she wanted to go check on the kids and Chandler offered to go with her, leaving me on my own with Monica, much to my dismay.

There was a large moment of silence between the two of us, before I started talking, desperate more than anything for it to be over.

"How's life been recently?" I asked, trying my best to initiate small talk even though it was pretty clear that the both of us wanted nothing more than to not be here with each other.

"Fine," Mon answered, in the monotone voice that I recognised from our childhood as the one that she used as a default when she was anything but fine, but didn't want anyone to be able to notice.

As I was trying to think of another conversation starter that might invite a happier response from her, I felt a bitter resentment start to edge its way into my thoughts, even though it was completely the wrong thing to be thinking about when I was trying to have polite conversation.

"I hope things get better for you," I said, giving up on trying to think of anything else to say, but hoping this would compensate.

"You too," Mon replied, flatly.

I replied with a sigh, "If only it was that easy." Quite frankly, I couldn't be bothered to hide the bitter edge to my tone.

Mon laughed hollowly. "At least I still make time for my own fucking kids," she answered proudly.

"I'm sorry," I replied, "but are you the one with a wife who's dying in hospital?"

"I'll have to think about that," Mon answered, deliberately missing the point as she knew it would wind me up.

"Fuck you, Monica Geller," I spat. "Fuck you."

"Case in point on why you clearly aren't capable of being a decent parent," she said, as I followed her gaze around the café, realising that she was referring to my colourful language when we were in the presence of many families with young kids.

"It's so much better than being an overbearing control freak, don't you think?" I replied, confident that I had successfully hit a nerve.

"Rather overprotective than downright neglectful and incompetent," Mon replied, clearly not willing to let this go without a fight.

"Being a complete and utter bitch really does run in the family," I said, proud that I had found a way to bring how much Mon was acting like Mom into this.

"Couldn't agree more," Mon said.

Just as I was about to fire another comment her way, Carol and Chandler came back to our table. Though we tried hard to cover up the tense atmosphere that had settled between us, I was certain that Chandler and Carol would be able to sense something was up.

"The kids are all enjoying themselves," Carol said, shooting me a questioning glance, which confirmed my suspicions that she knew something had happened.

"At least someone is," I answered, as I tried to ignore the warning glance that Carol had sent my way.

Chandler said something to Monica, and then the two of them left the table, leaving me with just Carol, awaiting the imminent flurry of questioning I was inevitably about to receive from her.

"What the hell is up between you and Monica?" she hissed, clearly wanting to establish from the get go that she would be taking no shit.

"Don't ask me," I shrugged.

"I'm done with this crap," Carol said, getting up from the table and walking out of the door that we all came in through upon arrival.

And so I was left sitting at our table, feeling much like a complete idiot, which I guess I deserved. Gotta love karma, I thought to myself.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 28 – Emma

I'm awoken by the glow of light from around the curtains in my window, and check my bedside table clock, feeling certain that it was a Monday and that I should be on my way school by this point. I was right, as the clock told me that it was 9.34am.

As the realisation of this started to really kick in, I pushed the duvet off my legs and sat up, feeling my heard start to spin. I was going to be in so much shit with Carol and Dad for this, which would be the last thing I needed with all the stress that we had been blessed with.

Grabbing my dressing gown on the way out, I left my bedroom and started climbing downstairs, figuring that if I was the first to admit what had happened, it might help my case a little. As I had expected to see, everyone seemed to have already left the house. Praying that this would end up working in my favour, I relaxed a little as I continued to walk down the corridor to the kitchen.

I pushed open the door, immediately spotting Carol standing against the sink. Oh great, I thought, with a mental eye roll.

"Glad to see you're awake," Carol said, as I braced myself to be told off.

Shocked that it didn't actually happen, I tried to think of something to say in response, only to find that the shock of not being told off had wiped my brain like a clean slate.

"I called into school, by the way, and explained that you and Lara are going through some family issues right now, and so you two are on compassionate leave for the moment," Carol said, which explained why she hadn't got annoyed with me. "They also said that you are welcome to email your teachers for the catch up work, but also that you shouldn't worry too much about getting it done either."

I nodded, realising now all the stress had gone, that I was actually incredibly hungry.

"There's croissants and orange juice for breakfast, if you want," Carol added, again kinda reading my mind.

"Thanks," I said, making way over to the fridge to pour myself something to drink. "Where are Lara and Ben?" I asked, realising that was the only sort of puzzle piece that was missing in this situation.

"They went with your Dad to see your Mom," Carol explained. "Neither Ben nor Lara wanted to disturb you whilst you were sleeping, just so you know that they didn't deliberately go without you."

Although I obviously wouldn't have been able to go with them if I was asleep, it still hurt a little that they were visiting Mom and I wasn't.

"I think I'll take this up to my room," I said to Carol, once I had made breakfast and put it all on a tray ready to go up.

Carol nodded, and then I started carefully walking back up the corridor, and up the stairs. I will still pretty bugged with Lara and Ben, but figured that Robert would be able to find a way to text me so I could deal with them later.

Turns out the Robert himself had also taken the day off from school apparently due to bad hayfever, which I suspected was the excuse he used for his Mom since hayfever season was long gone. We decided that we would FaceTime for a while.

"So, what you up to today, apart from talking to me?" I asked, taking a bite of one of the croissants on my tray.

"I have to babysit the kids for a little while later, but other than that, not much," Robert answered. "What about you?"

"Just lying around at home," I said, considering the pros and cons of trash talking my wonderful brother and sister to Robert.

"What about Ben and Lara?" Robert asked. In my explanation for why I was off school, I had said about most of it, but I had left out the stuff about them going to see Mom.

"Oh, they're just busy with their own shit," I answered, feeling like he wouldn't be likely to question me anymore about it.

"Lucky," Robert said, although I honestly didn't think that he was that lucky.

"Wanna meet up then?" I asked, since I was going to have a lot of time on my hands for the rest of the day, and so I may as well make good use of it.

"If you don't mind me having to leave later," Robert answered.

"That won't be an issue," I said, thinking that Carol wouldn't appreciate me being out too late anyway.

"Okay, meet you in 10," Robert said, and then I suggested we end the call so I could get ready to go out and meet him.

I just threw on casual clothes, as I had thought about going out in something that made me look a little less like a sleep deprived rat, but then decided it was too much effort for just meeting up as we weren't likely to go anywhere worth it.

I didn't bother with anything more than natural make up and then grabbed a jacket and my handbag, finally ready to go out. I realised that I hadn't actually yet asked Carol if I could even go out yet, and so I mentally made that a priority as I shut my bedroom door behind myself and started walking downstairs.

Carol was still in the kitchen, as I had thought she would be.

"Do you mind if I go meet up with a friend?" I asked her, hoping desperately that she would say yes, though no reason came to mind about why she wouldn't let me, since Dad wouldn't have told her about the last time that Robert and I were together.

"Not at all," Carol answered, as I mentally heaved a sigh of relief.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	29. Chapter 29

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 29 – Ross

"You have a visitor," the nurse who was sorting out Rachel's medication said.

The nurse walked over and opened the door after Rachel said to do so, and in walked Monica.

"Hi, Rach," Mon said, walking over to sit at the seat beside Rachel's hospital bed on the opposite side to me.

"Mon!" Rachel exclaimed, her face lighting up as she saw her best friend.

There was a period of small talk between the two of them, and then I noticed Rachel start to look quite intently towards Mon's right ear as if there was something she was trying to get a closer look at.

"Am I seeing things or did you get your ear pierced again?" she asked.

"Oh, this?" Mon asked, starting to absent-mindedly play with a small silver ring at the top of her right ear. "I've had it for months."

Rachel looked pretty surprised at that confession, as I was too. "I just hid it very well," Mon added.

"Now I want one," Rachel said, in a fake whiny voice. "Anyways, why did you hide it? It looks so good on you, besides surely it would've healed over and then you would have had to get it pierced again?"

"I guess it was just in case everyone hated it or thought it was too edgy for me," Mon said. "Thank you so much by the way, and it would've been so annoying if I'd had to go back and get it done again, because I kept the piercing in long enough for it to heal, and they obviously warned about the fact that if you took it out, there were high chances of it healing over. I just about managed to get it through the hole myself, especially because I don't have anything to pierce it with again myself and it would've sucked to have to do the whole process again."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, that would've been annoying," she agreed. "What do you think about it, Ross?"

"It's cool," I said, feeling indifferent towards it, but agreeing that it definitely suited Mon.

"So what else is new?" Rachel asked, shuffling her position against the pillow in the hospital bed.

"Not much," Mon answered, still fiddling with her earring as she spoke. "Chandler and I went to dinner last night, but apart from that it's just been house work followed by more housework."

"Aww, you guys are adorable though!" Rachel gushed.

"And you're the sweetest!" Mon said, as this had turned into a bit of a love fest to each other.

"What about you, Ross?" Rachel asked me. "What's been going on for you? I mean, that you haven't told me about already of course."

"Same old, same old," I shrugged, really not having any particularly interesting updates to give.

Mon and Rachel continued to chat whilst I scrolled through my phone, trying to look as if I was busy and not just sitting there as a slight third-wheel.

"Do either of you two wanna go get coffee?" Rachel asked Mon and I.

I was willing to go with Mon if she wanted, as I had had a few days to think about our argument the last time we were together, and had honestly decided that it was a little pathetic at this point on my behalf and was more than willing to agree to put it behind us. Mon seemed to feel this way too, as neither of us had any problem with the eventual decision for us to both go and get coffee.

As we walked together, now that I was seeing the silver ring up close, I had to admit that it really did suit her from a brotherly point of view.

I decided to voice this, as Mon was probably looking for encouragement that it suited her if she'd only really started properly wearing it.

"Thanks, Ross," she said, looking happy from the compliment.

When we got to the coffee shop, I paid for both drinks despite Mon's insistence that she contribute some money to the costs.

"Think of it as me thanking you for getting an extra pair of hands at the house," I said.

I think, by this point, I'd well and truly pushed her up to cloud nine with how happy she was, which only made me even happier. Even if we didn't get along all the time, nothing could change the fact that we were still brothers and sisters and still loved each other to the point where if she was happy, I was too.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 30 – Carol

"Hey Ross, here's your morning coffee," I said, setting down the mug on his bedside table.

"Thank you," he said, as he shoved his magazine off his lap and leaned across the bed to take sip from his coffee.

"You're welcome," I said, shutting the door as I left the room to go and check on Ben and the other two girls.

I climbed the flight of stairs that took me right up to the two girls' bedrooms, and saw light coming from under the door to the one that I knew was Lara's. Taking this as a sign that she was up already, I knocked on the door.

"Come in," I heard her shout as I pushed open the door and walked in.

"Good morning, Lara," I said, walking straight over to the curtains and drawing them, flooding the room with golden daylight.

"Hey, Carol," Lara said, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the sudden burst of light.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked, coming back over to the bed to sit on the edge.

"I guess, yeah," she answered.

Figuring that she probably wasn't overly thrilled about having to talk to me at such an early time in the morning, I left after I was confident that there was nothing that she needed that I could go get for her.

I went on to Emma's bedroom, and knocked on the door, unsure whether she was up and so I thought this would be the best way to know, as if I got a response then I would know that she was up and if I didn't, then I'd know she was still sleeping.

There was no response and so I started making my back downstairs to find Ben in the guest room that had morphed into his own temporary bedroom. He was up, and so I just walked straight in, as he had already said that it was fine as he had presumably heard me coming.

"Morning," he said, as I sat at the end of his bed.

He moved the duvet cover off himself so that he could shuffle up closer to me, and hugged me tightly.

"Can I get you anything before I go?" I asked Ben, as I was going to leave to go back downstairs to start cooking breakfast.

"I'll come downstairs with you and make myself a coffee down there and help you with breakfast," Ben said, getting out of bed and grabbing his dressing gown off of the back of the door as we both left the room.

When we both were in the kitchen, I started looking through the kitchen to see what food we had that I could cook for breakfast. I discovered that we had half a pack of bacon rashers left from one of meals that we had last week, and the vast majority of a bag of hash browns left. It wasn't much, I thought, but it would do.

I found a baking tray from the oven and a grilling pan for the bacon, and then prepared the food and put it in the oven.

"Here's a cup of coffee for you," Ben said, passing an extra mug towards me, as clearly he had decided to make coffee for me as well as him.

"Thank you so much," I said, sipping my mug from the seat that I had taken up at the kitchen table.

"You stay there," Ben instructed, "and I'll take over making dinner right now."

I let Ben do the favour for me, as I would've protested and said I would do it myself, but I got the strong impression that I could try as hard as I wanted to and he still wouldn't give up, making every attempt inherently futile from now on.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	31. Chapter 31

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 31 – Lara

"And that's all for class now," Mr Hopkins, the math teacher said loudly, over the noise of everyone packing up after the bell signalling break had rung. "Remember the homework on pages 29-31 of your textbook for next lesson!"

On my way out of the room, I made a mental note to add the Math homework in my reminders on my phone during my next spare minute, which would probably in the lunch line in the canteen as I waited to get food. Despite the fact that Carol had told us not to go to school during the situation, I had decided after three days, that I couldn't bear not seeing Erica and having something constructive to do with my life, of which there had been a distinct lack of since I temporary stopped school full-time.

Luckily, the line wasn't too huge when I got into the canteen but long enough so that I would have enough time to put the reminder in my phone without holding up the queue. Once I had put the reminder in my phone, I was about to shove my phone back into my rucksack when I got a notification from Erica. As I was just about to reply, Erica's caller ID started flashing up on the screen and my phone started vibrating whilst I tried hastily to decline the call.

I got a burger and fries as usual from the canteen, and then made my way to the nearest school courtyard, as there was few people in the area so I would be able to call Erica without risking being unable to hear her or risk other people being able to hear the content of our conversation.

I texted Erica saying that I had decided to go into school today, but that I would be able to take her call now since I was no longer in the lunch line. She replied a couple of seconds later, and then almost immediately afterwards the screen cut to her caller ID.

I accepted the call and said, "What's up?" Erica hadn't been specific in her texts, apart from the fact that she said she was desperate to speak to someone.

At first, Erica was speaking too fast for me to be able to understand her, and so I cut her off and said, "Slow down, slow down. Take a deep breath and then start again."

I heard Erica inhale and exhale, before starting to explain this time in a much more easy to understand manner.

"Basically Mom left spontaneously a couple of days ago after she had a fight with Dad, and won't answer any of the texts or calls Jack and I send her," she said, sounding like she was incredibly stressed, which was understandable. "Dad's also been going mad with worry and won't really speak to Jack or I properly, and everything's just falling apart."

Erica sounded as if she had started to choke up towards the end of what she had been saying, which again was a completely understandable reaction to what sounded like something just short of absolute hell.

"Hey, hey, hey," I said, in my best comforting tone whilst also taking a handful of fries from the carton. "Everything's going to go fine, I'm sure."

Erica sniffed. "Thank you," she said. "Neither Jack nor I wanted to come into school today, by the way, just because we're closer than we'd like to be to a complete emotional breakdown."

"Oh no, I totally get it," I said, feeling very much that if it was me in their situation, that I would be doing exactly the same.

"Whilst we're on the topic, could you send me any homework we have later?" Erica asked, sounding a little nervous.

"Sure thing," I answered, hearing Erica heave a huge sigh of relief on the other end of the call.

"Thank you so, so, so much," she said, sounding a little emotional to be honest.

"It's no problem at all," I said, feeling a pang of overwhelming helplessness towards Erica and Jack's situation.

Erica was about to say something, but I started talking instead. "I'll speak to Carol later, and see if there's anything she can do for you guys," I answered.

"Thanks again, it means the world," Erica said, before hanging up.

I went back to eating lunch, and then spent the remainder of lunch break making some revision notes from the math lesson. I almost missed the bell signalling us to start making your way to the next lesson, but luckily I managed to get to the doorway just as the second bell rang to signal the actual beginning of the lesson.

The last two lessons of the day were pretty ordinary as far as lessons go, and I definitely wasn't disappointed when I heard the bell ring to signal the end of the school day. I got home as usual, and was glad to see that Carol was at home in the kitchen, probably either cooking dinner or sorting laundry, I couldn't tell which one.

"Hey," I said, walking over to the cupboards to grab a glass to get myself some water to drink.

"Hey, Lara," Carol said, standing up straight again as she had been bending over what I now saw was a big basket of clothes since she was now longer bent over and blocking it from view. "Your day been good?" she asked me, as she proceeded to lift the basket onto one of the chairs at the table, presumably to make it easier for her to sort through.

"Decent enough," I replied, as I remembered the pressing matter of seeing whether she could lend any support to Erica and Jack's situation.

"Are you sure?" Carol said, brows furrowed, clearly concerned that I might be hiding more than I was willing to express. "I mean, I know I'm no substitute for Mom, but you can talk to me about anything if you ever want to."

"Thank you so much," I said, as I took up a seat at the table and started sipping my glass of water. I took a mental deep breath before saying, "Erica called me today and said that Aunt Monica had had an argument with Uncle Chandler and just took off and left her and Jack with Uncle Chandler, who is taking this whole situation really badly, and I just wondered if there was anything that you and I could do," I said, in a torrent that I knew if I didn't say it all right there and then, I'd probably never get it out my mouth.

"Okay, okay," Carol said, sounding understandably quite flustered by all the information all at once. "First of all, when did she tell you this?" she asked me, after taking a few seconds presumably to gather her thoughts.

"She called me at lunch break," I said, shuffling in my seat awkwardly as I realised just how powerless we really were in the situation, and how uncomfortable and annoyed that made me feel.

"You said she was crying when she called you, right?" Carol asked me, clearly trying to make sure she got all the details of the situation correct before trying to offer what solutions she could give.

I nodded, having a mental flashback to the painful image of Erica sitting on the phone, crying alone.

"I think I'm going to call her myself," Carol said firmly, clearly implying for me to hand my phone over to her so that she could call her, as I highly doubted that Carol would have Erica's number to hand.

Since Carol had given no indication of whether she had any preference over whether I stayed in the room while she was on the phone, I decided to stay sitting where I was, conscious to try and make as little noise as possible so I didn't disrupt her.

About half an hour later, I was feeling considerably more optimistic about the prospects about the shit that was going down at the Gellers' getting slightly less shitty, as Carol had said that she would do her absolute best to make sure that she came over and offered whatever support she could to Uncle Chandler and the twins, but she'd decide more of exactly what she was going to do when she had seen more of the intricacies of the situation.

When Carol hung up, she turned to me and asked, "Is it okay if I leave getting dinner ready to you, Ben and Emma, because it's unlikely I'll be able to do that and get over to Erica and Jack's?"

"It's all good," I said, nodding. "I'll send a text to them so they know what to expect, and probably ask either of them to get some groceries if they are still in or near the city."

"Thank you so much," Carol said, looking me in the eye with a smile that lit up her whole face, clearly incredibly grateful that I was being so helpful even though the situation we were in was undeniably very crappy and it wasn't easy for any of us.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Also I know that I've been away for quite a while, but know that after this hiatus and getting an idea of the exact demands of college, I'm not going anywhere :)


	32. Chapter 32

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 32 – Rachel

"Thank you," I said to the nurse who was helping me sit more comfortably in my bed as the most recent bouts of chemo had left me pretty damn weak. On a positive note, I was overjoyed to see Mike, who'd decided to give me a surprise visit.

"That looks far less comfortable than you make it seem," Mike commented, brows furrowed as he clearly tried to think about how that would actually work.

"Honestly I think that it's more that I'm just so used to it by now that it doesn't really bother me any more," I said, attempting to shrug it off with a laugh. "Anyway how are the kids and Phoebe these days?" I asked, trying to divert the conversation away from my ill health, as it was hardly a good conversation starter.

"They're pretty good," Mike said, sounding genuinely happy as he spoke, but from the twitch of the corner of his lip when he finished talking, I wondered if there was something more that he'd wanted to say but suddenly had thought it was better to not mention.

"That's good to hear," I said, trying to keep the fact that he might be hiding something from me had made me feel a little on edge out of my tone or body language.

We exchanged smiles, apparently not quite sure what to say to each other. I opened my mouth a few times to comment, but thought better of it every time. In the end, the silence that had hung between us felt far too tense for me to bear, and so I decided that I just had to go ahead and say at least something.

"How's Ross and the girls and Ben?" I asked, immediately regretting that I ever said it from Mike's ever-so-slight flinch when I'd spoken.

Just as it seemed that Mike had been able to formulate some kind of response to my question, the door to my hospital room opened and I saw my oncologist holding that clipboard that I knew held my charts.

"Dr Evans," I said as she looked up at me as she came to take up a seat on one of the empty seats beside my bed. "My visitor today is a dear friend of mine and the husband of one of my other dear friends Phoebe, Mike."

"Nice to meet you, Mike," Dr Evans smiled, turning to face Mike on the other side of the hospital bed so that they could shake hands.

Once both of them felt like they had sufficiently introduced themselves, Dr Evans turned back to me. I took a deep breath in, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. "Would you like to hear the good or the bad news first?" she said, both eyebrows furrowed as it was clearly a question she didn't want to have to ask.

"Bad," I half-whispered, something hard suddenly pressing against my airways as I spoke. I fought the urge to look at Mike to see if he was taking this as badly as I was.

Dr Evans was silent for a couple of minutes, supposedly agonising over the best way to tell me this inevitably bad news. It looked as if she was really having to try quite hard from the deep frown of her eyebrows and although she was trying to hide it, generally pained expression.

"Your cancerous cells have started to spread, although it's too early to determine exactly how far they will spread or the overall severity, and until we have a better idea of that, we cannot start any kind of treatment for them," Dr Evans said, her tone suddenly rather too loud for me to bear, even though I knew that it couldn't be as loud as I was envisioning it to be.

Feeling suddenly cold all over, I turned to Mike to see if his reaction would ground me in any way, but I saw that he looked white as a sheet and felt no better, albeit worse than I'd been feeling before.

"The good news is that it means that whilst we figure out what the best next step for your treatment, we'll be able to send you home for a couple of weeks," Dr Evans said, breaking the silence between us clearly trying desperately to offer us even the smallest bit of happiness.

"That's good to hear," I said to Dr Evans, trying my absolute hardest to pull off a smile because I really did appreciate her efforts to try and improve the situation for us.

"Yeah," Dr Evans agreed. "Having kids myself, I know that it can feel like the worst to have to be away from them, especially for how long you and some of my other patients have to," she added, with a sympathetic smile.

I nodded. "I'm sure they'll all appreciate me being around more even for a little while, especially with winter break coming up," I said, trying to look and sound as joyful as I could.

"If neither of you have any questions you'd like me to answer, I'll leave the two of you to digest the news," Dr Evans said, as I shot her a grateful glance.

Shutting the door of the hospital behind her, Dr Evans left. Immediately, I turned to Mike and said, "Are you okay?" even though I knew that his answer was likely to be no, I just needed a conversation starter to avoid the awkwardness that would settle between us otherwise.

"I guess, but that doesn't seem like a question you should be asking me, it should be me asking you that," Mike replied back to me.

"Fair enough," I chuckled. "I think we both know the kind of answer I'd give right now."

Mike chuckled along with me, mostly out of politeness towards my attempt to add to the conversation with some humour.

"When you're telling the others about my health, could you leave people like Monica to find out from me telling her and not through someone else?" I asked Mike, trying to make sure that he understood of how desperate I was to lessen the blow of the fact that there was ultimately a very high chance that I'm close to losing the battle altogether with cancer.

"Of course," Mike said. "It should be you to break the news, and I don't think any of our friends would want to take that away from you."

"I know," I nodded at Mike. "All of you guys are literally the best people ever."

Mike just grinned at me and honestly, I couldn't help myself but grin back just because I felt so happy and supported.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


	33. REALLY IMPORTANT UPDATE

**REALLY IMPORTANT UPDATE:**

 **Due to the fact that I recently learned that one of my grandparents has had to battle with cervical cancer in the last 15 months, and has fortunately since recovered, I have decided that I may not be able to or it may simply just be unwise for me to continue with the storyline of Rachel's cancer (she also battles cervical cancer in this fanfiction trilogy). I'm really sorry for this, but I hope you will all understand.**


	34. Chapter 33

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!

Chapter 33 - Ross

"Ben! Lara! Emma! Go answer the damn phone!" I yelled from where I was standing in the corridor, as I was just about to take a cup of coffee to Carol and Rachel.

I waited a couple more minutes for any of the kids to actually react, and then decided to leave the cups on the top of the shoe cabinet and then rushed into the kitchen to answer the phone. I luckily picked up the phone before whoever was on the other end gave up and then rang off.

"Ross Geller-Green speaking," I said into the microphone on the handset as I walked over to the table and sat down.

"Hi there," the voice on the other end said. "It's Dr Evans you're speaking to." Then she added before I had a chance to digest what this inevitably would mean. "I'm your wife's oncologist."

I swallowed the lump that had appeared with quite impressive speed before replying, "Oh yes."

"We discharged Rachel for a short time being whilst we decided how to pursue her treatment, and as much as I expected to be able to leave the two of you and the rest of your family to have a peaceful, treatment-free holiday season, we got back the results that we needed on the rate at which her cancer was spreading far sooner than expected due to the seriousness of the results of the initial testing we'd planned for it," Dr Evans said, sounding apologetic although it was having no effect on making me feel any less worried about the news.

"So, what were the actual results?" I asked, realising a minute later that I probably seemed a bit rude and impatient but at the same time hoping that Dr Evans would understand, given the nature of our situation.

"The cancer has developed into Stage 2 almost Stage 3," Dr Evans said. She didn't have to say anything more about it for me to know that it wasn't good at all that cancer had spread. "At this stage, we can continue treating it with the a more aggressive type of chemo than the one she previously had, but if it progresses into stage three we will have to do a hysterectomy because at that point she'll be in seriously dangerous territory of it developing further into stage 4, of which about 60% of cancers that reach that stage become terminal."

"Does this mean she'll need to be in hospital sooner or can she still come back in on the originally agreed date?" I asked, wanting to make sure that I knew all the important facts before I stopped to properly digest the news.

"She can still take the whole time off," Dr Evans said, clearly trying to sound cheerful even though she was almost definitely unlikely to actually be able to improve our situation.

"Thank you so much and see you then," I said, hoping the fact that I was desperate not to have to talk much more about this wasn't making me come across as too rude.

Once I'd hung up and put the phone back down, I walked back out of the kitchen and picked up the mugs to continue the journey of taking them upstairs to Carol and Rachel. Particularly after the news that had just been told me, I was really hoping that the kids would be self-sufficient in continuing to get themselves ready for the day. I wasn't yet going to tell them about the news yet, and I would have to assess the situation before deciding when would be the best time to tell Carol and Rachel, whom I know of course would need to know at some point or another.

"Good morning, ladies," I said as I walked through the door of Rachel and I's bedroom and saw that Rachel was still in bed but clearly Carol must have moved from her room into ours whilst I was on the phone because she was currently also sitting on the bed.

"Thank you very much, Ross," Carol said to me as I passed her her mug before sitting down on the bed and leaning over to give Rachel hers.

"Thanks, babe," Rachel said, before taking a sip. "Carol came in to keep me company whilst you were downstairs, and I of course told her about the fact that you were making coffee for the both of us, so she decided it would be a good idea to stay."

"Good call," I said, laughing though I was worried that it would sound hollow as I wasn't quite feeling it after the call.

"The kids okay?" Rachel asked me, her usual motherly concern edging into her tone.

"Yeah," I said, in what I hoped was an offhand manner so that she wouldn't worry, although of course I wasn't 100% certain.

"Good, good," Rachel said, sounding suitably less worried.

I sat with both of them for a while, until I excused myself to go and double check that everything with the kids was actually running smoothly.

I found Ben downstairs in the kitchen.

"Where are the girls?" I asked him, on guard for a negative answer.

"Your guess would be as good as mine unfortunately, Dad," he answered, shrugging.

"I'll go check upstairs then," I said, walking out of the kitchen and then up the stairs at the end of the corridor joining the living room, the kitchen and the front door. I then went up the second set of the stairs where both girls' bedrooms were.

Both doors were ajar, though I could hear no noise – not even the sound of a Bluetooth speaker playing or Netflix – so the radar that switched on when I thought something suspicious was going on was alerted. I decided I would go into Emma's first, as being the older of the two, she'd obviously be the one with the greater responsibility with doing everything she needed to do to get ready for the day.

"What?!" Emma exclaimed, impatiently, as I stood in the doorway of her bedroom.

"I was just coming to see whether you were ready for the day but, considering you are still lying under your duvet, I'm going to assume that you're not," I said in my best strict but verging on pretentious tone, as I knew that this would deliberately annoy her enough to give up playing whatever game it was that she was so hell-bent on playing this morning.

"Why don't you go harass Lara instead of me?" Emma asked, no less annoyed than she was when I first entered the room.

"Because I have two daughters, and my responsibility as a father is to make sure that both are behaving as they should be," I said, as Emma rolled her eyes as if she had heard this many times before, which she had.

"Whatever," Emma said as I told her one last time to make sure that she got ready for the day and closed the door behind me on the way across the landing to Lara's bedroom.

As the door to her bedroom was also ajar, I decided that I'd knock and announce my arrival and then go into the bedroom.

"Lara, are you ready for the day?" I asked Lara, who was lying on her bed with her MacBook on her lap.

"Yeah," she said, not even looking up from whatever she was doing on her laptop.

"Okay," I said, realising that I probably wasn't going to get much more of an answer out of her and so it would be a completely worthless use of my time to do so.

I walked back down the stairs to the second floor and then walked back into the bedroom I shared with Rachel, hoping that Carol might still be in there to discuss the important ins and outs of running this household, as the kids being happy in their own rooms meant that this would be a perfect opportunity for us to have a conversation about this.

Carol and Rachel were both in the room still and so I asked the two of them whether they wanted to start to talk about the plans for the week, and delegating important bits of adult life to each other.

"So, is there anything that we need to prioritise for the coming week?" I asked Rachel and Carol.

"Only making sure that we have enough food to feed ourselves and all three of the kids, as I think we are definitely now running low," Carol said, as whilst she had been the main woman in the house, she had been doing everything that had been Rachel's responsibility when she was still well.

Rachel laughed, because I knew that she would be able to relate to the struggle that Carol and I had felt whilst she was in hospital, as we had both been experiencing how finite any resources that we would buy would end up being.

A/N: Hey guys, this is just me reminding you guys for the reviews and suggestions for any improvements I could make to keep coming and to read all the chapters leading up to this one and the other books. Please also keep in mind that strong themes of bereavement and mental health issues will feature from now on for quite a while across all three books, and so if you are sensitive towards that topic, I ask you to keep that in mind before continuing to read on with the trilogy. Thank you so much for your continued support, and I hope you have a good day whenever and wherever you're reading this!


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